Dark Dragon Wars
by RaisingArizona
Summary: Peace seems to have settled over Fiore, making everyone in Fairy Tail feel at ease until three people from the future suddenly appear. Chaos and destruction follows as battles are soon waged between two of them while the other is killed in the crossfire. Now all that's left is to decide whether they should get dragged into a war or die. Sequel to Dark Dragon of Fairy Tail.
1. Peace

**Hello! This story will be different from the previous one, containing a whole new set of villains compared to the last one and dire situations for our beloved characters. This chapter is a moment of levity, since our two main characters are caught up in a situation that is amusing for one and irritating to the other. I hope you all enjoy it!**

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**Chapter 1: Peace**

It was almost surprising that, after all these years, a war or two hadn't broken out since the great battle against an evil Dragon. Fairy Tail was still the strongest guild in Fiore, also the most destructive, and in the recent years the guild was starting to pay for it. The most amusing part is that the new Magic Council, appointed not long after the massacre of the old one, thought that they could keep Fairy Tail in check. However, there was a new law passed that if the destruction was bad enough, the people responsible would be imprisoned for a short period of time and then a trial would be set. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened to Natsu and me. Due to the fact that we are both strong S-Class Wizards and Dragon Slayers, we both tended to cause a lot of damage.

My name is Timara Dragneel, formerly Timara Wyvernia, and I am a Shadow Dragon Slayer for Fairy Tail. Natsu and I got married seven years ago and had an angel of a daughter named Saphira. They'd both healed up my emotional and mental scars from losing my memory as a young girl after I was nearly beaten to death just for using magic. Another great help was my brother, Rogue, who belonged with Sabertooth.

"Timara," I heard a voice whisper in front of me and I looked up from the stone floor at my mate and husband. Natsu looked overly pleased with himself since he had a smug smile on his face. I didn't think it was possible for someone to look so thrilled while behind bars and in Magic-sealing cuffs so neither one of us could use our Dragon Slayer Magic.

"You could look just a little less happy about being in this situation, you know," I grumbled, reaching up to push my long blue black hair back over my shoulder. Thankfully, they didn't cuff our hands behind our backs, mostly because it would be pointless to do so. "I realize that you love demolishing things, but this means we'll be here for a while."

He just grinned evilly at me before saying, "We finished the job at least. I can't help it if my Fire Dragon Slayer Magic mixed with your Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic and annihilated that huge statue."

"Don't forget about the courthouse behind it," I reminded him in a flat tone of voice. "There was also one of the Magic Council member's vacation houses taken out in the blast wave."

"You just won't let that go, will you?" he sighed, the grin still in place as he watched my expressions shift.

I let my thoughts drift back to the incident in question, my gaze shifting down to the floor as I remembered what happened. Hours beforehand, it was decided that we would be taking another job since our Guild Master Makarov told us that it was about time we left Magnolia on a time sensitive request he had received recently. The job was to help out the local knights in a port-like town called Cedar since they had an infestation of Dark Wizards that had banded together. Makarov figured that since the two of us made a great team, even more so after being married for seven years now, that we could take out the Dark Wizards in Cedar. So Natsu and I said goodbye to our daughter Saphira, giving her a hug before letting Wendy and Romeo watch out for her. Those two were her friends and also like her babysitters as well. Wendy would make sure no harm came to her while Romeo would keep her entertained with his Rainbow Fire Magic, since it was similar to Natsu's Fire Dragon Slayer Magic, and Saphira would be entranced by it. It hurt to be parted with her, even for such a short time, but we soon left with our partners flying us to our destination. My partner, an Exceed by the name of Tyger, purred a little in an attempt to comfort me and I smiled a little back at her.

After we made it to Cedar, it didn't take long before we saw the problem we were sent to solve. Outside a tavern was an enormous group of Dark Wizards, seeming to have been waiting for us the entire time while a group of knights appeared on the scene as well. The knights knew of our reputations and stepped back before the fight started. Wanting to get this whole thing over with, Natsu used his Fire Dragon's Roar while I used my Shadow Dragon's Roar. We were too close together when our Magic was used so it merged in midair, blasting through our opponents and taking out everything in its path. That led to us being arrested on the spot, so Ty hid in my shadow as she dragged Happy with her so that they wouldn't be captured with us. When no one was looking, I made them escape later on and they followed us until we were locked up in our cell, where we had been in now for hours.

"There's no need to mope about this," Natsu said, pulling me from my thoughts and I glared up at him. "It's not like we're going to be leaving any time soon. We should just make the best of the situation at hand."

"And how in the hell do you suggest we do that?" I asked, looking through the bars and down the hallway, hoping that Ty and Happy stayed out of sight.

"First, we should come up with a plan," he said and I looked back at him. When we both stayed silent for a few minutes, he seemed sheepish as he whispered, "This is the part where you come up with one."

I couldn't help but chuckle at his words, making him huff and turn his gaze from me. As always, I was the one who came up with a contingency plan while he just barreled his way through by brute force alone. He definitely preferred to be the powerhouse while I was extremely speedy to assess the situation and defeat my enemies with my swiftness. I sat up straight on the bench, stretching out my stiff muscles from having sat there for so long.

"Well, the plan is we wait for our trial, then you stay silent while I talk our way out of it," I told him simply. "Oh, how I despise this new law…"

"You and me both," Natsu grumbled. "Do you know how many things I've destroyed?"

"Let's see, the total now runs to about 3,512 objects, give or take a few," I told him nonchalantly, watching him look up at me in surprise.

"You've counted?"

"Actually, there was a bet running back at the guild."

His eyes narrowed as he stared at me harshly and I looked away, feeling a bit awkward. "What was the bet?"

"How many things you could destroy before the Magic Council took action against you," I told him guiltily. "Whoever guesses the closest number wins. If it makes you feel any better, I had the closest number and will be getting everything in the betting pool."

He sighed. "What was your number?"

"It was 3,515. I picked a set of random numbers with Saphira."

He burst out laughing, leaning back against the wall behind the bench in his amusement. "I should be angry about this, but the fact that you brought our daughter into it makes it funnier!"

Before either of us could say anything more, footsteps could be heard echoing throughout the hallways before a group of knights appeared to finally take us to our trial. Two of their number had a long pole with a hook, one of them opening the door to our cell and then both of them hooked a loop in our cuffs to drag us along behind them. I shrugged as I let them lead us to wherever the trial would be held. Due to the fact that the last set of Magic Council members died while out in the field, I knew that the new members would be using Thought Projection and would be wearing hooded robes to keep their identities a secret. Just as I had predicted, nine hooded figures that seemed to flicker around the edges sat behind a large desk as we were pulled in front of them. The knights pulled the hooks free from our cuffs before walking over to the edges of the room.

"Timara Dragneel. Natsu Dragneel," the tallest man in the middle of the desk said and I knew he had to be the Chairman. "Do you know why you are here today?"

"I believe it's because we are being wrongfully punished when all we came to this town to do was to help out the knights stationed here," I told him, a few of their number gasping at my audacity.

"You are here since you both destroyed a large piece of the town," the man said.

"No, we defeated a large group of Dark Wizards and just so happened to blow up a gold statue, large courthouse, and a tacky looking vacation home. Judging by the sour look on your face that I can see through the shadows under your hood, I'd bet a large quantity of Jewels that it belonged to you."

"Timara, what the hell are you doing?" Natsu hissed at me under his breath but I ignored him as I stared up at the Chairman, who I could see glaring angrily back.

"You impudent little—" the Chairman began to say and I knew his last word was something nasty but thankfully the woman next to him cut him off.

"Chairman, these two are heroes," the woman said softly but Natsu and I could listen to her perfectly with our exceptional hearing. "One stopped the Dragon Acnologia while the other absorbed Etherion when the self-destruction protocol was put into place. We don't want them as enemies."

I gave the Chairman a falsely sweet smile, allowing my normally golden eyes to flicker red for a split second when he glanced back at us. I saw his shock before he could properly conceal it, remembering that I could see through the shadows left by the hood of his coat, and he glared fiercely at me while assessing the woman's words. He knew that one wrong move would cause us to make the Magic Council's, more specifically his, lives miserable as payback and he finally nodded.

"Since you are both… 'heroes,'" the Chairman said, spitting out that last word like it was poison before continuing on, "I won't sentence you with more jail time for your crimes." I grinned, turning to high five Natsu the best I could while being cuffed when the Chairman cleared his throat to get our attention back. "However, you _will _be sentenced to fix the damage that was caused and I will be supervising this endeavor."

"Easy peasy, I can have it done in ten minutes," I said, walking over to one of the guards and holding up my cuffs for them. "I need these off though."

One of them pulled out a key and slid it into the keyhole on the cuffs, unlocking them both and I took a step back as Natsu had the same done for him. I rubbed my wrists to get the feeling back in them when I saw that all of the Magic Council had disappeared except for one. I could see from her slight form that it was the woman who stood up for us, her black robe immaculately unwrinkled as she waited for me to approach the desk with Natsu. I smiled at her, making her look a bit uncomfortable as she shifted her weight from left leg to her right.

"Hello, Olly," I said to her, watching her flinch slightly. "I know you told me that you were a member of the Magic Council, but I wasn't expecting for you to be holding the 2nd Seat. That's kind of impressive."

"I told you last time, stop calling me Olly!" she huffed at me. "My name is Olivia Xanderson, so you can call me Liv or Olivia, but definitely not Olly!"

"Timara, how do you know a Magic Council member?" I heard Natsu ask, seeing out of the corner of my eye that he seemed very confused.

"Remember when we went to Mt. Hakobe a few months ago to find Romeo after he got lost trying to finish a job?" I asked him and then continued on when he gave me a nod. "Well, when we split up to search for him, I went up near the peak of the mountain and heard screams, so I ran and finally saw a woman trying to fight off at least five Blizzardverns. Obviously it was too much for one person to take on alone, so I helped her out by blasting them with my Roar and then picked off the rest with my shadows. Afterwards, we introduced ourselves and became fast friends, also I discovered that the reason she was even on the mountain was because she had a house here. She told me that she was a member of the Magic Council and that from now on she would try to advocate our value to the rest of them."

"I'd managed to get three others to agree that Fairy Tail is an asset to Fiore until this incident occurred," Olivia told me. "You do realize that you just squandered all of my hard work, right? We're never going to repeal the destruction law now."

"I bet you about 50,000 Jewels that I can have more progress and get the law repealed in ten minutes compared to your six months of working at it," I told her with a grin, extending my hand for her to shake. "So what do you say about that, Olly? Are you up to the challenge?"

"Oh, you're on," Olivia said as she clasped my hand. I was slightly surprised that was possible with a Thought Projection, but didn't think anything more of it as we all wandered outside the building with a small group of knights behind us.

As we walked down a few streets, I saw a blue cat walking alongside another cat with the markings of a tiger, her red eyes blazing as she caught sight of me. "Mara!" she shrieked ecstatically, leaping at me and I hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad that you're ok!"

"Of course I'm ok," I laughed, holding Tyger, or Ty for short, in my arms. "You had doubts that I wouldn't be?"

"No, but I was still worried about you!"

I kept hold of her as we walked to the town square, once there I told Ty to stand back a few feet with Natsu and Happy. I saw the Chairman standing at the outside of the square with the rest of the Magic Council, Olivia also standing beside him and I looked at the destruction before me. The sun was beginning to set now and the shadows lengthened, which was a good thing for me and my Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic. I let out a wave of Magic and the shadows rippled before wrapping around each piece of the rubble. As I pictured what each building and statue looked like, the shadows obeyed and moved around to move each piece into place until they were completely fixed, even the tacky looking vacation home. Honestly, the Chairman should have thanked me for destroying it in the first place because it was an eyesore.

"I'm surprised that you're actually able to create things as well with that devastating magic of yours that decimated the area around here," the Chairman said snidely. "Maybe you should keep that in mind the next time you take a job."

That was it. That was the last straw that broke the camel's back. I had felt slightly bad about breaking all of those things, but the moment he acted like a jerk I was done. I whipped around, my eyes flashing red and I almost ran for the man when Natsu took a few steps forward to grab my arm firmly. I let out a growl, baring my fangs at him and I could see that he looked shocked by my behavior. It was a well-known fact that Dragon Slayers were more Dragon like than human, but he seemed to have never been close enough to one of us to be able to figure that out.

"Now, you listen here, you sniveling excuse for a Chairman," I snarled, fighting Natsu's grip on me only to have him hold on tighter. "I didn't want to do this, but you left me with no choice. Since you seem to hold that vacation home in high regard, even more so than anything else you must own or you wouldn't be acting this way, you should know that every piece of that building is being held up with my Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic. I have the power to just snap my fingers and let the whole thing fall apart, no matter how far away I am from it. Now, because you have just angered me beyond belief, I demand that you fulfill one of my requests right this moment or I will make it collapse."

"You wouldn't dare," the Chairman said, glaring sternly at me. "I will arrest you right on the spot!"

"Actually, she would," Natsu informed him calmly. "It's been a bad day and we're both rather irritated. Do as she asks because she _will_ make good on her threat and I can guarantee that we won't be arrested for a second time today."

The man watched us warily now that he knew how dire his situation was, then finally nodded in acknowledgement. "What is your request?"

"Remember that lovely law you passed that caused us to be arrested? Get rid of it. I want it repealed right at this very moment," I told him, then immediately cut him off when he began to splutter out that it was impossible. "I don't really care, nor do I want to hear your excuses! If you want to keep your vacation home intact, I suggest you hold a vote to have the law repealed now!"

Jumping a little when I began to yell, he immediately turned to the other Magic Council members and it was voted to repeal the law. With a smug smirk, I watched them slowly disappear one by one until only Olivia and the Chairman were left. The man looked absolutely livid as he scowled and I could hear that he was grinding his teeth together in his rage.

"How dare you force my hand like that," he said.

"By the way, you better not try to find a way to pass a law that is in any way similar to the one you just got rid of and no loopholes to bring it back either or I will blast the house to shreds," I told him with a smile. "I'll be paying attention to what you're all doing just in case." I watched him grumble angrily before he winked out of existence entirely.

Olivia pulled down her hood once he left and I could see an amused smirk on her face. She had wavy lavender hair that stopped at her shoulders and midnight blue eyes, seeming to glitter gleefully as she watched me. Her hair was now longer than I had remembered as well since it was short and spiky the last time I had seen her on Mt. Hakobe.

"That was awesome, Timara!" Olivia said delightedly.

"However, you seem to have forgotten our bet," I reminded her. "Where's my 50,000 Jewels, Olly?"

Her gaze turned stony as she looked at me. "Stop calling me Olly. As for your winnings, I obviously can't give them to you right now since I'm using a Thought Projection. I will send you the spoils of our bet in exactly two days' time. You know I'm good for it."

"Not only that, but I know where to find you so I'll get my reward one way or another," I told her with a laugh before she disappeared as well. I looked up at the darkening sky, then to Natsu as I began to work things out in my head. "It's up to you. Do you want to stay here for the night before heading back to Magnolia or do you just want to fly back now?"

"I can see it in your eyes which option you want me to choose," Natsu said with a smirk. "You want to get home as fast as we can so we get to see our daughter before she goes to bed."

I hugged him tightly, wrapping my arms around his neck as he chuckled, embracing me just as tight. He kissed me quickly on the lips before moving away a bit so our partners could grab us and fly us back to Magnolia. A couple hours later and it was now dark, I was the one with the very best eyesight at this moment and we rushed down to a mansion on the outskirts of Magnolia, one that was right on a hill beside a lake. I could see that the lights were on in the living room before we landed and we walked hand in hand to the door, pulling out my key with my free hand and unlocking the door so we could walk inside where the light from the chandelier in the main hall shone down on us.

Once we all walked into the living room, there were two figures sitting in the chairs beside the fire who immediately jumped up when they caught sight of us. The one on the right was one of my dearest friends, Zeref. His black hair was spiky and unruly, just like his dark clothing was wrinkly and skewed. He had a huge white toga like scarf wrapped around his shoulder and waist as his coat flapped open. The other person was Mavis Vermilion, who was still in her Ethereal body and loved chatting with Zeref. I looked over at the couch and saw that Saphira was curled up there, fast asleep and seeming as if she had tried to stay up for as long as she could before she passed out. I took a closer look and saw that she had used her new Magic to change her hair color. The top half was my blue black hair color while the other half was dark pink, making it look like there were streaks of pink mixed into the black.

I gazed up at the two of them, shooting a glare in their direction and they both looked very confused. "Is there a particular reason why my daughter was allowed to change her hair like that?" I asked them sternly, Mavis looking puzzled as Zeref's shifty stare avoided me entirely.

"Well, she's your daughter, Timara," Zeref said quietly. "She's just as stubborn as you and she said that she wanted to be more like that both of you. She sees you both as her role models."

"She even decided to cut her hair," Mavis told me. "I watched her do it."

I groaned in frustration and slid my fingers through my bangs to push them back, shaking my head as I looked at her. "You really shouldn't say something like that to me while I'm trying to reprimand the both of you. It really doesn't help your cases any."

I heard an airy sigh as Saphira rolled over onto her side towards me and Natsu walked to my side as she blearily opened her eyes. Her tawny golden eyes looked hazy as she rubbed the sleep from them, seeming so exhausted that I just wanted to stay silent so she could fall back asleep. I didn't like waking her like this. Then she turned her head, almost as if she meant to speak to Zeref or Mavis when she finally caught sight of the both of us. Her eyes widened and it looked as if she was trying to figure out if this was a dream or reality.

"Mommy? Daddy?" she asked as she sat up, so I crouched down in front of her to put me at eye level with her.

"We're back, baby," I told her with a smile. "I'm so sorry that it took this long to get here. We had a bit of a mishap that made us late."

"It's ok, mommy!" she told me, beaming brightly and showing me her tiny fangs as she did so. "I'm just happy that you and daddy are back!"

With that, she immediately launched herself at me and threw her arms around my neck. I embraced her tightly and held her for a few seconds before she let go to do the same thing to Natsu. He chuckled picked her up entirely, making her squeal in joy as he set her back down on his shoulders. She giggled as he carried her to the stairs and up to her room, which was the one right next to ours. I watched Ty and Happy follow after them since they both occasionally slept beside Saphira to protect her during the night in case someone ever tried to get in. They would give us enough time to burst into the room, but Ty could shift into an enormous tiger form so I wasn't worried.

I looked back at Zeref and Mavis, who were both now looking down at their feet in an attempt to not look guilty. "Alright, you two," I said, making them look up at me, "you're supposed to be her babysitters, not her enablers. If she wants to do something drastic like this again, tell her to wait until she can ask Natsu or me. Also, did Wendy and Romeo drop her off here when Fairy Tail closed up for the night or did you go get her from the guild hall?"

"They brought her back here," Zeref informed me. "They said that they weren't sure what to do since you weren't supposed to be away for so long, so instead they figured that she might as well be with us until you came back."

"Good decision on their part," I said to myself, bidding them both good night with a wave of my hand as I walked to the stairs.

As I walked along the hallway, I could hear the faint sounds of humming coming from Saphira's room. I stepped softly on the carpet now to stay as silent as possible, making my way to her door and opening it slowly. I looked in the door to see Saphira falling asleep as Natsu hummed a lullaby to her. I recognized it as the one that Natsu's foster mother Diamantina, a deceased Crystal Dragon that had been Igneel's mate, used to hum to him whenever he had a nightmare or was feeling sick as a child. He hummed it to me once a long time ago, back before the war with a Dark Guild named Black Eclipse that had allied with Acnologia. Once Saphira had fallen asleep with our two partners at her sides, Natsu stood up and turned around, catching sight of me watching him in the doorway. He took careful steps over to me, staying as quiet as possible as he walked out of the door to me and then shut it behind him to keep Saphira from waking.

"How long were you standing there?" he asked me curiously.

"Only for a minute or so," I told him with a shrug. "How long have you done this?"

"Ever since she was born," he said with a smile. "If I heard her crying in the middle of the night, I would go over to her and hum the lullaby to her. I just hated how exhausted you looked back then, so I thought I would do something to help you."

"That's awfully sweet of you," I said with a smile, moving closer to him and wrapping my arms around him as he did the same to me. "Thank you for being so thoughtful."

"It's not a big deal, I enjoy the moment of peace I have with her."

He then let go just long enough before he grabbed my hand to lead me to our room. It had been a long day of strife and all we really wanted to do was go to sleep. I was still livid about today's turn of events, especially since it was supposed to be an easy job. At least I could say that I coerced the Magic Council into getting rid of that awful law that put almost all of Fairy Tail into jail for a short period of time. Makarov would definitely breathe easier knowing that his children wouldn't be penalized for mistakes that could occur while on the job.

Natsu opened the door and we walked into our room. I gazed at the bookshelf in front of the wall opposite of us and looked at all of the trophies that Natsu had collected over the years from the jobs he had taken. There were a few crystals, tickets, scales, even a few pictures of the two of us either alone together or with a few members of Fairy Tail. There was a recent picture of our little family that was recent, Saphira around the same age in the photo as she is now. I smiled as I looked up at it, seeing another picture beside it that was of me with my brother Rogue. Natsu kept trying to hide the picture since he and my brother never seemed to get along, a fight always starting when the two of them came together during a visit. It reminded me that it was Rogue's turn to visit us here since we had all packed up to go to the town nearby Sabertooth last time, so it would most likely be soon when he appeared. With a tug, Natsu pulled me over to the bed and we curled up together under the covers, practically passing out within seconds after our heads touched the pillows.


	2. Fairy Dragon

**Hello, everyone! I had to hurry and write this chapter now since it will be a while before I can write again. I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so it would be almost a week before another chapter could be posted. Now that I have it all done, I'm content. Anyway, this chapter shows a few changes with the guild and there will be a few fighting scenes in here. It's not Fairy Tail without some fighting here and there. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 2: Fairy Dragon**

After we woke up in the morning and had a light breakfast, we flew to the guild hall where we were certain to get an earful from Makarov about our arrest. I let Ty carry Saphira while I used my Magic to create wings of shadow. They both seemed perfectly happy about that development and I could hear them giggling the entire way until we landed in the courtyard before the guild hall. I saw Saphira gaze wistfully at all the items at the souvenir shop before she walked over to Natsu's side, asking him to give her a piggyback ride inside the building itself. Of course, he obliged and picked her up, carrying her in as she laughed happily. At least the guild hall hadn't been destroyed while we were gone, I thought to myself as I soon followed after them.

Due to the fact that seven years had passed since the war with Black Eclipse, quite a few things had changed. For starters, quite a few people were now married, finally dropping the charade that there was nothing going on between them. Gray and Juvia, after years of me popping up from the shadows of alleys and catching them kissing just to watch them try to say nothing was going on, had married and had a son by the name of Payne Fullbuster. Payne looked exactly like Gray, except the only difference between the two was that his short spiky hair was the same color as Juvia's. He was six, just a year younger than Saphira and the two of them were inseparable. I guess you could say the same about their fathers since they always fought each other at least once a day. This kid, since Gray's Magic takes the form of a solid and Juvia's takes the form of a liquid, had control over Air Magic and was able to create mini tornadoes with the wave of his hand. Saphira liked adding her Magic into the tornadoes so that they would glitter with a multitude of different colors, shifting in a sparkling dance of wind.

The next couple to get married, even though they tried to keep their torrid love affair a secret from everyone until I found them out in the East Forest when Natsu wanted to go visit the tiny hut where he kept Happy's egg, was Erza and Jellal. Erza kept her last name in honor of him being the one to give her the name because of her hair color in the first place, which is how they kept the tradition going when their daughter was born. The now six year old girl was named Layla Violet and she obviously had bright purple hair with chocolate brown eyes. The magic she wielded was similar to her mother's in the sense that she could use Requip, only instead of having Erza's particular form of Requip, which was The Knight, Layla's Requip was The Ninja. On several occasions, the little girl had asked me to teach her how to sneak effortlessly through the shadows or how to jump from tree branch to tree branch while making it look so easy. When I wasn't teaching my own daughter Magic, I helped her with her agility and became a sparring partner for her when she wanted to test out that aspect as well. I even helped her find something to Requip into just like her mother, ninja clothes that could help her literally melt into the shadows and be camouflaged. It went by the name of Shadow Ninja Kimono and it was an all-black outfit that stopped at her knees that had arm guards, a light form of chain mail underneath, and knives that came out of her gloves above her knuckles that acted like claws. She even had a sword to go with and it was called the Dark Night Blade. I could tell that one day she would give her own mother a run for her money if they kept training together.

The next set of people to get married and have kids was Gajeel and Levy. I think that only a handful of people, myself included, saw that one coming. What surprised me was that he even bit her, leaving a blocky metallic tattoo on the skin of her neck that said she was his mate. Whenever a Dragon Slayer bites someone with the full intention of making the other person theirs, it left a unique tattoo that seemed to flash in sync with the Dragon Slayer's heartbeat. Natsu and I did that years before we married, so I had a fiery red tattoo that swirled like a flame between my neck and shoulder while he had one that was blue black that was the same design as mine. Even though Levy couldn't bite Gajeel back to leave her mark, he still had a faint tattoo that was white and it was the same design as Levy's.

They had a son that was the same age as the other two youngsters and his name was Rowan Redfox and he was like a replica of Gajeel except his eyes were a strange bright green with slitted dark pupils. I suspected that Levy named their son Rowan thanks to some book she's always seen reading. Rowan's Magic was ironic when I first saw him use it. Since Levy used Solid Script, which is a form of Letter Magic, and Gajeel can't sing or play a guitar well to save his own life, I was greatly amused when we all discovered that Rowan could use Sound Magic. Not only that, but he could play us songs with it that were absolutely breathtaking or make such a horrid noise that it could force someone unconscious.

Last but not least, Mirajane and Laxus, a man who absolutely drove me crazy and I managed to threaten at least once a day, tied the knot. He even bit her and Mira's tattoo was gold, looking jagged like lightning bolts. Since she could shift into her Satan Soul, she bit him back and his tattoo was a deep purple. They had a daughter named Zoey Dreyar, who had light gold hair that almost looked white and it was long, seeming just as wavy as her mother's. Her eyes were a grayish blue and she was kindhearted like her mother. I think what surprised Mira the most was that Zoey had heard the story about her mother's past, about how she thought she was a demon or possessed by one since she could use Satan Soul, and that was why she began to learn Take Over Magic. As if she was the opposite of her mother, Zoey's Take Over Magic was Angel Soul. She only had the basic one so far, but with her mother to help she would soon have an arsenal of forms to choose from.

What no one was ever expecting, not even Natsu and I, was our daughter's Magic. We didn't even know what it was at first. She would shift the colors of things unexpectedly and create tiny rays of rainbow light from her hands that seemed to just shimmer. It wasn't until one day we noticed the dainty fangs that she really showed us her power. She had gotten into a fight with Rowan, who seemed to already be her rival, and she opened her mouth to let out a huge beam of multicolored light, one that was golden at first before it shifted into the different colors. It took us both a few seconds before we realized it looked extremely familiar, it finally hit us that she had Dragon Slayer Magic and what she had just used was her Roar. We didn't think it was possible for such a thing to happen naturally without either a Dragon Lacrima implanted or the teachings of a real Dragon, but she was exhibiting all of the signs we had personally gone through ourselves. We called it being a 4th Generation Dragon Slayer, which is where two Dragon Slayers have a child with the same Magic and are taught more about it. We didn't know what to call hers at first, but she came up with the idea of being a Fairy Dragon Slayer and it seemed to stick. She was then nicknamed the Fairy Angel, which was much better in my opinion than my occasional nicknames. The only one I liked was the Shadow Queen.

I walked over to the bar where Makarov, Erza, and Mirajane were all waiting for me, expectant stares zeroed in on me and I knew I was going to have to explain our actions from yesterday. Too bad Natsu had run off or I would make him explain it as well. I was waiting for a fight to break out any second now. I wasn't sure which of the two would start it but I was definitely going to have to break it up again no doubt.

"So, Timara!" Makarov called out to me as I stopped in front of the counter where he was sitting, his legs dangling from the edge. "I heard from the Magic Council that you and Natsu were both arrested and that you blackmailed them into repealing that new law!"

"I can explain," I sighed, waiting for the stern talking to that was sure to come my way.

"No need," Makarov said. "Although I didn't believe them at first when I heard them say that you stood up to the Chairman, I realized that this was you we were talking about and that you would most likely take a stand when the time was right. The Chairman was the one to contact me personally through a Communications Lacrima about you both and I never wanted anything more than to punch him through the Lacrima the more he spoke. I'm glad you did what you did. Not only that, but I'm also glad that the destruction you both caused wasn't as bad as it could have been."

"Did you really blow up the Chairman's vacation house?" Mira asked me curiously as Ty flew past my shoulder and sat on the counter in front of me.

"That thing was so vulgar and tasteless," Erza said. "If you really did blow it up, then I'm happy about it. I've been wanting to do so myself."

"Yes, we both destroyed it," I corrected them, figuring that Natsu could take some of the blame since I didn't want to take all of the credit for this one. "And a gold statue and the courthouse. After that, I was the one who spoke on our behalf then I was forced to fix it all, so I kindly reminded the Chairman that he needed to repeal the law or I would break his vacation home by letting the shadows keeping the entire structure in place go free. He seemed quite agreeable after that."

"No wonder the man sounded so furious," Makarov said to himself. "He should have heard through the grapevine how stubborn you are."

"No kidding. It's kind of obvious now that I'm extremely outspoken."

"I think that's putting it mildly," Erza said flatly and I laughed.

I was about to say something in response when I heard a loud yell and a few glasses smashing when they hit the floor. I could tell from the familiar shouts that Natsu and Gray were at it again. I turned around and confirmed my suspicions, no one else moving as they fought since they were so used to their antics. The only one who paid attention was Wendy, who always healed their injuries even though I told her to let them suffer if they liked fighting so much. She was too kindhearted to do such a thing, but she did find my comments about them suffering for it funny. I saw Natsu slam his fist into Gray's jaw, knocking Gray off balance for a brief second before he sent a kick at Natsu's side. I heard his breath rush from his lungs quickly as Gray tackled him to the ground and all I could do was sigh as I began to walk closer to them. Saphira and Payne, who heard their fathers fighting, ran over to me as I turned into the row where the fight was taking place so they could see what I did next. Giant talon like hands erupted from the shadows on the ceiling and picked them both up so they were separated, dangling them in the air as they struggled.

"You're going to calm down and chill out," I told them flatly, completely expressionless as I gazed up at them. I saw Natsu turn a bit green as he began to look sick and I sighed, "Seriously, how in the world are you getting motion sickness right now?"

"I don't know anymore and I'm not feeling well enough to question it," he grumbled as he went limp in the shadow hand's grasp.

Deciding not to prolong his suffering, I dropped them both and they landed on their feet without too much complaint. Wendy was finally able to run over to them with Carla in tow, healing up the bruises that I was sure must cover a lot of surface area. I was about to walk away back to the bar when I felt Saphira grab my hand as Ty landed on my shoulder. Saphira pulled me away a short distance and then looked around to make sure no one was paying attention. She then gave me a bright smile before she spoke.

"Mom, I want to learn more Dragon Slayer Magic now," she said. "I think I'm old enough for it. The Guild Master said that he would make me a member of Fairy Tail if I become a bit stronger! I want to be just like you and dad and be a part of Fairy Tail, too!"

I tilted my head to the side as I thought about it for a second or two, realizing that it actually was about time that we trained her to use her Magic seriously. I nodded before saying, "Alright, Saphira, we'll start your lessons now with the basics. First, you've got to learn how to create things with your magic. That's how Skiadrum taught me."

"Skiadrum was the Shadow Dragon, right?" she asked me, her eyes shining brightly as she recognized the name.

I smiled at her and thought that she was such a smart girl. "That's right! Your uncle and I were taught our Dragon Slayer Magic by him."

I saw her brow furrow slightly at my words before she asked, "When is Uncle Rogue going to get here to visit? It's been so long since I've seen him or Uncle Sting."

Internally, I felt a laugh bubble up from within at her words. I had almost forgotten entirely that she considered Sting, Rogue's Guild Master for Sabertooth, as her uncle. Every time we meet for a visit, whether it's here in Magnolia or in the tiny town in the middle of the woods just before their guild hall, Sting is always there with Rogue so he can see Saphira. He took a liking for her since she's a nicer version of me and that she is the sweetest person ever. He would pick her up and carry her around everywhere under his arm while she screeched in joy.

I smiled a little as I looked at her earnest expression. "They'll be here soon. I'm sure he'll send a mini Dragon when they're ready to leave and they'll be here before you know it. Now, are you ready for your first lesson?" When she nodded excitedly, her tawny eyes sparkling as she gazed up at me, I continued on. "This is what we'll do. I taught Gajeel and Wendy a few years ago and this was how we started, too. What you need to do first is make a ball of Magic form on the palm of your hand. Don't try to force it there, ok? Just let the Magic flow its normal course and let it take form."

What I wasn't counting on was that while I was talking, she lifted her hand and a ball of rainbow light and glitter instantly formed. She looked thrilled with herself, beginning to bounce up and down on her toes as she looked up at me. I felt a wave of pride wash over me as I grinned. "Did your father teach you this?" I asked her.

"No, it just felt natural," she said happily. "So what's next? I want to learn more!"

For the rest of the day, I would give her something to create with her Magic and she would instantly make it form. I started out small before making get bigger and bigger, stopping in size when she created a perfect replica of Natsu and was looking tired. I sat down on a bench near the bar and let Saphira curl up beside me, setting her head on my lap to use me as a pillow. I stroked her hair lightly as she settled down to sleep, her breathing soft and deep as I tried to stay as still as humanly possible. I felt more than saw Natsu sit beside me on the bench, sliding his fingers between mine and squeezing for a few seconds.

"I saw that you were training her," he said, leaning over to kiss the top of my head lightly. "She was doing very well. I'd say that she should be able to start learning how to fight."

"If she learns anything next, then it will be long distance attacks first," I said to him softly. "I now know how Skiadrum must have felt when he was teaching me offensive Magic. I don't want anything to happen to her. She means so much to me."

"She means a lot to me as well, just like you do. I don't ever want to lose either of you. It would destroy me."

"I agree. I might go insane if I lost you, Saphira, and Ty," I said pensively to myself.

Natsu grabbed my chin with his free hand and forced me to look him in the eyes. "You won't lose any of us. We'll all be together until the end. I'll do everything I can to make sure it comes true."

I nodded after pulling my chin free from his grasp and he then wrapped his arms around me comfortingly. I trusted his judgment and I knew that if he said he would do something, it would for sure happen. Even though I knew all of this, I vowed to myself that I would always protect them, no matter what happens or how hard it would be to do so. I leaned my head against him and we stayed like that for the longest time until Saphira woke from her nap. She sat up and hugged me, so I wrapped one of my arms around her while I kept the other around Natsu, Ty jumping onto my lap with Happy.

"We have quite the family, don't we?" Ty said, smiling happily up at me.

"That we do and I wouldn't trade you all for the world."

"Even if that means you won't be able to rule the world?" Natsu asked me and I could hear the laughter in his voice.

"Are you kidding? If I really wanted, I could definitely pull it off with all of you by my side," I said with a grin. "Actually, I could totally take over the world on my own, but it wouldn't be as fun."

"Oh, mommy," Saphira laughed, "I love you! You're so funny! We can't take over the world because that would be wrong!"

"I love you, too," I told her as I hugged her tighter. "And is that right? Well, I guess that means I can't be an empress or something like that if it's wrong."

"You're already the Shadow Queen," I heard Gray say from behind me and I looked back to see him about to leave with his family. "Isn't that enough for you?"

"I never even came up with that! It was your idea to nickname me with that title! It fits perfectly, but it still wasn't my idea!"

Gray just shook his head as he ushered Juvia and Payne outside, not bothering with arguing about it with me since he knew how obstinate I was. I took it as my cue to start making my little family get ready to go, even though I had to round up Saphira when she ran over to Makarov. She immediately begged him to let her join Fairy Tail and he told her the same thing he did earlier. Once she learns more Magic to protect herself, she can join the guild. He just asked her to be a little more patient and when the time came for her to join, he would let her in immediately. She looked a bit disappointed, but didn't say anything more on the matter as we left the guild hall. We flew back to the mansion relatively fast, landing outside the front door when I immediately felt a presence watching us. I was set on edge at first until I recognized the Magic Power emanating from it and I grinned a little.

"You guys go inside," I told them. "There's something I need to do first."

Natsu looked suspicious for a few seconds before he actually did as I said, leading our daughter inside and shutting the door behind him. I bounded off towards the forest behind the mansion where the shadows were the thickest and jumped into the center of it, tackling a figure that had once been standing there and that only I could sense. He grunted when I slammed my fist into his eye, managing to slam one of his fists into my ribs and pushing me away from him. Once I slid my feet under me and stood up, I first dodged another punch sent at me with a laugh before kicking my foot out to sweep his legs out from under him. With a devious grin, I pinned him down quickly, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed his head into the grass hard.

"Ow! Damn it, Timara!" I heard the too familiar voice of my brother say as he rubbed the now sore spot on the back of his head when I let him up. "What the hell was that last part for?!"

"That's what you get for sneaking over here without sending word first!" I yelled. "You always let me know when you're going to show up!"

"Well, I wanted to shake things up a bit, is that so bad?"

"Yes, it is! I've had to avoid answering my daughter's questions about when you were going to visit us!"

He stood up then, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me to my feet while my ribs protested. I could already feel a huge bruise forming there and I grimaced a little at the thought. Rogue was about to say something to me when I heard a twig snap behind me. I whipped around and saw Natsu attempting to sneak closer to us, only to fail when he stepped on the offending twig. He looked a bit angry and I knew it must be because he figured we were fighting again.

"And what the hell did the two of you think you were doing?" Natsu asked roughly.

"Oh, there was a spider on his face and I felt the need to kill it by punching him," I said with a smirk.

"Don't get all sarcastic on me, Timara," Natsu said with a growl as he stomped closer, glaring angrily at Rogue. "I do believe I told you to never hurt Timara again or I would hurt you as well."

"Lay off, you brain dead idiot," Rogue snarled at him, bumping into me and nearly knocking me off balance as he stormed over to Natsu. "She attacked me first. If anything, all I was doing was defending myself."

"And I told you not to hurt her if you had to do that! If anyone is brain dead around here, it would have to be you!"

I sighed in frustration as Rogue moved quickly with the aide of the shadows, grabbing Natsu by the throat and slamming him into a tree. I saw my mate use the same move I had once used on him years ago, knocking his arm away, grabbing it to push forward so he couldn't move lest he broke his own arm entirely, and swept Rogue's feet out from under him before sending his foot down to stomp on his chest. Rogue quickly reached over and pulled Natsu's other leg that was firmly on the ground out from under him so that he slammed his back into the grass with a thud. By this point, I grabbed Natsu by the scarf and dragged him a few feet away before he could try to fight my brother some more. I didn't want for us all to walk inside and have Saphira question what happened.

"Alright, guys, fight's over with," I said, pulling on Natsu's scarf whenever he made a move to attack Rogue. "In fact, this fight should never have happened. I do believe I told you not to fight my battles for me, Natsu. I don't need you to defend my honor because I am perfectly good at doing it myself. As for you, Rogue, you should know better. This is my husband and my mate, so it was really stupid of you to do that. I feel like I ought to attack you again for it, but I will refrain from doing so since my daughter will be excited to see you. Now, where is Sting? You two are usually inseparable when it comes to seeing Saphira."

I saw Frosch appear from behind a tree now that the fighting had stopped and he jumped up on Rogue's shoulder as my brother said, "Well, that's something I wanted to tell you about first, but I almost forgot when we fought. I haven't had a good fight in a while."

"Get to the point, Rogue!" Natsu yelled, making Rogue look as if he wanted to fight him again, but he took a deep breath before he continued on.

"I'm sure your Guild Master is going to bring it up soon, so don't freak out when I tell you this," Rogue said calmly. "Your Guild Master, mine, Lamia Scale's, and Blue Pegasus' have all decided that it would be a good time to hold a tournament of sorts. It's so we can hone our skills a bit so we aren't so rusty when the time comes that we need to use them."

"Wait a minute, there's going to be a tournament?" I asked. "Where is it supposed to be at?"

"I guess it's going to be held somewhere around here since your Guild Master told us all to come to Magnolia. The only reason I'm here so early is because I wanted to see my favorite niece."

"She's your only niece, you moron," Natsu grumbled just loud enough for Rogue to hear. I had to yank him backwards as Rogue tried to punch him, just barely missing us and making Natsu angrier than ever.

"Damn it, we are _not_ going to fight here! Wait for the tournament!" I yelled at them both, glaring fiercely and making them stop in their tracks.

I pushed Natsu out in front as we walked back to the mansion with Rogue behind me. I looked back to check on him and saw that he had a black eye forming, making me grin a bit when I turned back to watch where I was going. Once inside, I could hear little feet hitting the floor as Saphira could be seen running into the main hall. She gaped at us all, mostly Rogue when she saw the extra person coming into the door.

"Uncle Rogue!" she shrieked, running full tilt at him and jumping as high as she could. "I've missed you so much!"

He caught her with a laugh, hugging her to him tightly. "There's my favorite niece! I've missed you, too, Saphira."

"Hey, where's Uncle Sting? Didn't he come with you?"

"Sting won't be here for a few days more," Rogue explained to her. "He'll get here soon enough, I promise."

"Ok, Uncle Rogue, I believe you!"

After that, we settled down for dinner at the table, the males eating just about everything in sight that was on the table and leaving the rest of us in utter disbelief. I guess that was the benefit of being around male Wizards since you never had to worry about leftovers. Saphira just found them hilarious after she was finished eating. When dinner was over, she asked if Rogue could tuck her in and he agreed, taking Ty with him as well since she wanted to look out for my daughter. I was happy they got along so well and I began to wonder if one day Saphira would have an Exceed partner of her own.

I settled down in the living room with Natsu, Zeref and Mavis had already headed for their respective rooms and so we were just waiting for Rogue to come back downstairs. Natsu kept his arms around me tightly as I leaned back against him, feeling quite tired after the fight. Maybe Rogue was right about needing to hone our skills before we were too rusty to use them properly. When he came back, he asked about where he would be staying and we all left to head upstairs. I showed him the room right across from Saphira's, which was completely empty due to the fact that the mansion was huge. He looked thrilled to have such a large room and he went inside to sleep with Frosch on his shoulder. Taking this as our cue to finally get some rest as well, Natsu and I headed to our room, where we fell asleep quickly and without too many problems from our bodies being sore from fighting.


	3. First Job

**Hello, everyone! I apologize for having taken so long to post another chapter! If I hadn't been on vacation, it would have been sooner. I am usually pretty good at updating every couple of days, depending on how excited I manage to get about what I'm writing. This chapter reveals a bit of a worrisome aspect that you'll have to keep an eye on, one that will explain itself in later chapters. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 3: First Job**

I wasn't quite expecting the fact that I had to be the one to teach Saphira how to use her magic. I figured that, since Natsu reveled in the violence of fighting and loved attacking Gray whenever he could, he would take her under his wing and teach her the basics. It wasn't like I had a problem with helping her, it was just that I wasn't sure if it was the right time for me to do this. I was intensely nervous about this but I refused to let either one of them see that. I figured that it would be best for me to get the long distance attacks out of the way now if this was to be the case.

That morning, right before we all headed out to go to Fairy Tail, I felt something drip down from my nose. Letting out a choice string of curses that would probably make my deceased mother faint in shock, I ran into the kitchen before any of them could see. I found a towel and held it to my nose, waiting a few seconds before pulling it back just long enough to confirm the fact that my nose was indeed bleeding again. This was something I had gotten used to now, something that started happening about a couple years after absorbing Etherion into my body. I wasn't too worried about myself, but Natsu always seemed troubled by it and I didn't want him to be too concerned. Just as I felt the blood stop flowing, I rinsed the towel out to wash away the blood and then heard someone shift their weight from side to side. I knew immediately who it was and turned around to see Natsu standing in the doorway. I wasn't quite sure how he managed to sneak up on me and filed it in the back of my mind for later when he began to speak.

"Another nosebleed?" he asked and I could see the apprehension in his eyes even though his expressions on his face were blank.

"It's nothing to get so agitated about," I told him, giving him a smile so he would hopefully stop his fretting. "I can tell you must be worrying about it and you don't need to. I'll be all right."

Even though I could tell he had practically ignored my words and was going to continue worrying, he nodded and left the room. I said goodbye to both Zeref and Rogue, who were both going to hang out with each other for the day with Mavis so that they would stay out of the way of the guild, and then left with my family, flying back to the guild hall in record time. Walking inside the guild hall revealed a large mass of people that were standing in front of the stage, Makarov standing there with Erza, Gildarts, Laxus, and Mira. I was surprised to see that Gildarts must have come back from another mission after we left for the night since his job was supposed to be a long one. When Makarov finally caught sight of Natsu and me, he waved for me to join him on the stage and I told Natsu to stay with our daughter. He gave me a grin, seeming to have forgotten my nosebleed already and went to stand somewhere near the front of the crowd where Saphira could stand with Payne.

Once I was standing next to Laxus, an unfortunate stroke of terrible luck, he grinned before clapping me on the back, nearly sending me crashing to the floor on my face if I hadn't caught my balance and then he began mussing my hair. "Ah, there's the Shadow Queen! I was wondering when your tiny little form would show up!" he said with a laugh.

"Shut up, you old fart!" I told him, glaring up at him and making him laugh even more.

"I'm not all that older than you! If that's the case, brat, then you're a young whippersnapper!"

Before I could snap at him again, Makarov started to talk. "Alright, Fairy Tail, I have an announcement to make. Due to the fact that we've been living in— YOU TWO BETTER NOT BE FIGHTING WHILE I'M TRYING TO SPEAK TO THE GUILD!" Makarov bellowed out the last sentence as everyone turned to look at the culprits. There was Natsu and Gray, the Ice-Make Wizard in a headlock while both of them stood their frozen.

"Sorry, Gramps!" Natsu yelled up at him before letting Gray go.

I looked up at the ceiling in exasperation as Makarov groaned. "Just one day… One little day I would like a moment where no fighting was to break out in this building. Oh well, I suppose we wouldn't be Fairy Tail without it. Anyway, back to what I was trying to say before the fight. I had a meeting with the Guild Masters of Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, and Sabertooth and it was decided that we are going to hold a tournament. It will be held in the outskirts of Magnolia within the East Forest."

There was a loud uproar as everyone was both equally excited to beat up other members of different guilds again and surprise at this turn of events. I saw Natsu tilt his head to the side as he watched Saphira talking excitedly with Payne and I knew she expected that she would fight. Behind her, I could see Rowan glowering at my daughter but a tinge of red fluttered over his cheeks as he realized he could defeat her once and for all. I saw Layla and Zoey glare at each other from either side of the crowd and I didn't realize that the same rivalry applied with the girls like it did with their mothers at one point in time.

"Before the tournament, the kids can have a mock battle with each other, just to see who is the strongest. After that, the real fighting begins. The wizards that wish to fight can form teams of two, that way it won't be an odd number at the end. The team that reaches the end will then fight each other to see who the one winner will be. The sign-up sheet will be on the board next to the jobs. Sign up before tomorrow night."

I barely even had time to hop down from the stage when I was ambushed by Natsu. "Don't you even dare trying to find someone else to partner up with. You're my partner and we're going to win this together."

"At least until the very end when I get the chance to stomp you out," I told him with a devious grin. All he did was shake his head, giving me a look that practically told me to just keep dreaming before he walked away. Behind me, I heard a noise that made me turn around to see the Guild Master waiting expectantly for me to give him attention. "What's up, Gramps?"

He sighed heavily, shaking his head in exasperation. "You've been married to Natsu for too long. His mannerisms are rubbing off on you," he told me before continuing on with what he meant to talk to me about in the first place. "Listen, I need you to give something to Porlyusica before the tournament starts. I figured it should be best to give her fair warning about a large set of fights about to break out in her neck of the woods before she tries to track me down and cut my head off to adorn her fireplace."

"She wouldn't do that," I told him with an evil smirk. "Women don't like warped and disturbing things on their mantle."

I sidestepped with a laugh when he swatted at me with his wooden staff, seeing his mirth shimmering in his eyes at my words. "You can take Saphira along with you. Leave Natsu though. He tends to antagonize Porlyusica and I think you would want him to stay alive for a few more years."

"At least until I kill him myself. I wouldn't want anyone to take that from me."

Makarov laughed and turned away from me as Saphira walked over with a confused look, then shrugged as she figured I must be teasing someone like normal. When she finally took notice of Makarov's retreating form, she rushed after him and began trying her level best to convince him to let her join Fairy Tail right then. I was about to go drag her away from him when I saw Erza and her daughter approach, almost identical looks of extreme seriousness plastered to their faces.

"I think it's a good idea for the both of us to go with you to East Forest," Erza said calmly. "I think it would be a good training opportunity for Layla."

"Might as well ask Gray and Juvia if Payne can come with us," I said. "We all know that Saphira and he are inseparable."

I was walking over to where Gray and his wife were talking when I heard a loud shout from Makarov. "FINE! YOU'VE CONVINCED ME! WILL YOU LEAVE ME ALONE IF I FINALLY LET YOU JOIN?!"

"Of course I will!" I heard a shriek of joy and I knew that she had pestered him enough to get what she wanted. I could see that Makarov was actually happy and not angry about it, but my daughter wasn't paying attention to any of that when Mira came over with a Magic Stamp Tool.

"Might as well bring the other kids over here!" the Guild Master yelled. "Can't have one joining up and the others being jealous." There was a tiny stampede as the other children rushed over to form a line behind Saphira, who was having her guild mark placed on her right shoulder like her father. She bounced joyously on her toes as she looked down at the golden mark there, beaming over at me ecstatically as she finally had her dream come true. "Saphira, go with your mother and you can start your first job, just to learn what it's like to be a real member of Fairy Tail."

Saphira rushed over to me, leaping up and hugging me tightly when I caught her. She watched as Payne took off his shirt and his guild mark was placed in the same spot as his father's as well, making it shimmer silver before he put his shirt back on and ran over to Saphira when I set her back down. I looked up to see Juvia walking over and Gray was moving over to Natsu, so I knew a fight was soon to break out between the two.

"You can take Payne along," she said, giving her son a smile. "I'm sure he would be upset if Saphira went along and he didn't."

We all watched as the rest of the children had their marks stamped on. Layla's was placed on the back of her left hand, the same dark violet color as her hair. Rowan's was the same strange bright green that was placed on his left shoulder. Last but not least was Zoey, who had a white guild mark settled between her shoulder blades where wings would protrude if she were in her angel form. Next thing I noticed was that Rowan was being ushered away by Levy and Gajeel, the little boy glaring at Saphira before they all left the guild hall.

"Where are they going?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Juvia said, looking quite surprised.

"Well, Gajeel and I don't exactly get along after I nearly tried to drown him in a lake," I said flatly. "It's his own fault that he weighs a ton and can't swim."

"They don't call him the Iron Dragon Slayer for nothing," Juvia laughed. "Anyway, Rowan convinced Gajeel and Levy that he wanted to be a Dragon Slayer as well, so they're going to take him to the hospital to have a Dragon Lacrima implanted."

Saphira turned around to look at me, her nose crinkled slightly in distaste as she glanced upwards. "Why would he want to do that? Sounds painful."

"Well, it's definitely not just a walk in the park," I told her. "Your uncle and Sting had it done when they were children. So did Laxus. It was painful for them but the benefit of being taught by a Dragon and having the Lacrima is that you can enter Dragon Force easily. I don't know if that's the same for Laxus though."

"What's Dragon Force?" I heard Payne ask me, his eyes widening as he listened to what I had to say.

"It's like an extreme boost of Magic for Dragon Slayers. You can harness the power of Dragons and are nigh invincible."

"Have you used Dragon Force?" my daughter asked me as she bounced on her toes.

"Once," I whispered, remembering vaguely that it had taken absorbing Etherion to save Fairy Tail to use Dragon Force at all. I shook my head a bit to clear my thoughts then gave a smile to the two kids. "Ready to go? We'll just grab Erza and Layla before heading out."

They looked thrilled as we walked over to the two of them. Natsu ran over to me before we left, kissing me lightly on the lips before running back to where he had been arguing with Gray. I walked beside Erza as the children walked out in front of us, chatting away like good friends as we went along. I saw as we left Magnolia and entered the East Forest that Payne was a bit on the jumpy side when it came to strange noises, making him move closer to Saphira where he could take her hand and hold it, which she never once complained about it or let Layla know what they were doing.

"It's like how you were with Natsu back when you first joined the guild," Erza said quietly so that the children couldn't hear. "Even though you refused to speak to anyone else, you always talked to Natsu and enjoyed his company. At least, until the day you became an S-Class Wizard and practically left for good." When I didn't say anything in response to her words, she carried on regardless. "You do know that's why he would try to start fights with you, right?"

"I know," I whispered. "He said that he only just wanted to see me smile whenever I came back to the guild and the only way that seemed to work was to accomplish it through fights. It didn't matter to him that he always lost so long as he could see me smile. I guess I never truly realized how awful I had been to him the moment I left so long ago."

"It doesn't matter anymore, Timara," she replied back with a comforting smile. "You came back, you opened up, and now the both of you are mated and married. I'm pretty sure he forgives you for the past."

I nodded and we carried on, walking through the woods silently now. I made my way to the front while Erza stayed back behind the kids, making sure we covered both ends in case a Vulcan wanted to attack our kids. I definitely wasn't going to let that happen and neither was she. It wasn't until we had reached the halfway point into the forest when I had a nagging feeling that was almost like a tickle in the back of my mind, one that alerted me to the fact that we were being watched from afar and followed. Making it look natural, I slid my hand along a shadow near a tree and used the darkness to find out the exact location of the person stalking us. I felt its familiar Magic once I did and grinned, shaking my head slightly when I realized who it was.

"I don't mean to alarm any of you," I said quiet enough that I knew they were the only ones who could possibly hear me and not the person following us, "but we're being tailed."

"Do you know who it is?" Erza asked me just as quiet.

"I do for sure. I think the kids can dispatch him handily. He's directly behind us and hiding in the shadows."

"Requip," Layla whispered before shifting into her Shadow Ninja Kimono. She seemed to just melt into the shadows and disappear, although I could still see and sense her completely since I was an expert with the darkness.

I think Saphira had finally sensed our follower since she gave a bright smile before seeming to just fade away from sight. I knew that she had just used her Magic as a sort of expert camouflage since she could control colors and that she was following after Layla. Payne was then surrounded by a column of air that turned him invisible as he made his way after Saphira. I waited patiently to find out what was about to unfold.

A strong gust of wind from Payne knocked the figure from out of the shadows before a shape jumped out after him. "_KEEEEEEEYA!_" screamed the little ninja before sending her foot into that person's stomach.

As the person was sent airborne, I heard Saphira scream, "Fairy Dragon's ROAR!"

Immediately, I tackled Erza to the ground as her Roar was soaring through the air just above us, looking like a rainbow had been knocked out of the sky and was now at ground level with us. It glittered for a few seconds more before winking out of existence and then I saw my daughter tackle the prone form of the person that had been following us, laughing as she did so when the person grabbed her for a hug. I could hear laughter from him as well when he stood up with the little girl in his arms.

"What a sneaky girl you have for a daughter, Timara!" I heard him say as I grinned. Rogue was definitely no match for his adorable niece. It was then that I noticed with a smug grin of my own that since she had used her Magic for the camouflage, her hair had changed so that all of it was her natural pink color with the darker shades mixed in towards the ends. "Fairy Tail children are going to be little monsters when they get bigger! I really can't say I liked the kick in the ribs a few seconds ago!"

"It could have been worse," I told him with a smirk. "Layla could have aimed and hit someplace else."

I saw Rogue's face twist in imagined pain as he flinched. "Point taken," was all he said as he set my daughter down onto the grass.

"Now, are you going to tell me what you think you were doing following us or am I going to have to fight the answers out of you?"

"You and fighting," Rogue sighed under his breath before he continued and answered me. "I came here after you all because I was bored at your house. There's only so much of the soppy looks between Zeref and Mavis I could take before I needed to just leave. Seriously, they just need to suck face and get it over with."

I gave him a stern look, about to reprimand him for his words when Payne, who had appeared with Layla a few feet away, asked, "What does suck face mean?"

"You're a bit too young to know that just yet," I told him, glaring daggers at my brother in an attempt to show him how contemptible his words were since I had to avoid the topic now. "I think your parents would nail my hide to their wall if I told you."

Rogue gave me a look of derision before saying, "Isn't his father Gray? I thought you guys called him a per—" I cut him off by clapping a hand over his mouth, moving to him faster than any of them could blink with the assistance of my Magic.

"Perfect individual?" I said, hoping that Payne would believe it as the little guy glared at my brother.

"I know he was going to say 'pervert,' Timara. Your husband calls him one all the time," Payne said to me, turning his gaze from Rogue to mine with an appreciative glance. "Thank you for trying though. It was nice of you to do so."

"No problem, Payne," I told him before letting go of Rogue.

We carried on walking together for a while after that, staying in an amiable silence until we reached a huge meadow that was completely cleared out. There were bleachers of all kinds on either side of the thicket and we knew then that this had to be the place where the tournament would soon be held. I saw the kids start to get excited for it again and all I could do was grin as they bet who would be the winner. I told them after a few minutes that it was time to leave again and we headed deeper into the forest until we reached a rather large cabin in the very middle of the woods.

"Rogue, since you're not a member of Fairy Tail, I suggest that you stay out of sight," I told him. "I think you should be safe rather than sorry if Porlyusica happens to be in a bad mood. Just hide in the shadows or behind a tree."

Immediately after he disappeared, we all began walking up to the cabin when the door was thrown open. A cranky looking old woman stepped out, glaring at us all as she made her way over to us. "I hate humans," she grumbled under her breath. "They always think that they can just trespass on your property for no apparent reason."

"It's been so long since I've seen you," I said to her as we stopped walking, giving her a smirk when she stopped as well. "Did you turn senile in your old age?"

Saphira and Payne looked up at me in horror before the old woman glared at me. "You disrespectful little imp! Never before has a brat from Fairy Tail spoken to me like that!"

"That can't be helped, you old hag," I said before moving closer, a slightly affectionate expression passing over my face for briefest of seconds and I could see her answering affection shimmer in her eyes just as long as mine had. "How have you really been, Porlyusica?"

"If you humans would go away, much better than I am now. Anyway, why don't you come inside? There's something I need to discuss with you."

"That's perfect because I do as well," I told her. "I have a message from Makarov."

"That old bat? I'm surprised he hasn't keeled over yet from trying to rein you all in."

Once we had walked inside the room, my nose instantly began dripping blood. I felt a slight edge of panic pass through my system before I wiped my nose with my hand, hoping to get rid of the evidence when Porlyusica turned around and caught me. She instantly had a frown on her face as she carefully assessed me.

"Nosebleeds, huh?" was all she would say at first. When I refused to answer her, she said, "You know, in my line of work, nosebleeds and wizards are never a good thing. It usually means that you're either sick with a regular human disease or your Magic is forcing your body to react unfairly to whatever situation you might currently be in. Care to explain what's going on with you? I'm sure no one else knows except for you since you're stubborn."

"I don't want to worry anyone and I really just thought that perhaps I was reacting badly to the weather. It had been a bit dry lately," I told her. "However, I've also been getting headaches occasionally that go with the nosebleeds but I was sure that it was coincidental that they seemed to just happen around the time I had a nosebleed. I'm sure it's actually nothing to be worried about. My Dragon's Will for sure will keep me alive if it isn't."

"I think you should let me examine you," she said quietly. "I don't think you should use your Magic for a few days."

"Sorry, but no can do," I said to her, watching as her frown deepened. This woman was definitely not used to hearing the word "no" from anyone except herself. "I don't have time for it. Oh, I nearly forgot. Makarov is holding a tournament of sorts here in the forest. It's in the meadow not far from here."

"You're going to participate in it, aren't you?" she sighed. "I really don't think that is a good idea for you to do. I'm afraid that something bad might happen to you if you keep using your Magic like this." I wouldn't say anything more on the subject as I handed her a slip of paper from Makarov, watching as she read it before I walked back out. I sighed and looked down to pay attention to the steps.

What she didn't know was that I hadn't actually been using much of my Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic at all. In fact, I was only using about a fraction of the total Magic I had floating within my form. Ever since I had absorbed Etherion and gone into that coma, I hadn't wanted to use that Magic. Not only that, but my Magic just felt different now. It didn't entirely feel like my own. The only thing I knew was that it was definitely dangerous for anyone to try to eat or absorb my shadows. I was deeply afraid of what the consequences might me if I let it happen.

Afterwards, we finally decided to head back to Fairy Tail. Porlyusica told me that if I ever needed assistance when the nosebleeds got worse or if something else happened, I could immediately make my way back to her house where she could observe me. I knew she meant well, but I refused to become a lab rat just for this. It wasn't quite that bad yet and I was going to keep it that way. Magnolia was starting to come within sight through the trees when I felt yet another nosebleed occurring. Before, I would only get one or two a day, but three was beginning to get excessive. It was a good thing that I chose to stay near the back of the group so that no one could see what had just happened. I wiped away the blood, making sure that I didn't smear it all over my face as we made our way back down to Magnolia and back to Fairy Tail, watching as Rogue left us to head back to the mansion while Saphira and I went to collect Natsu from the guild hall. I was a bit on the tired side when we finally got back to Fairy Tail, only to hear screams and yells when we reached the courtyard. It took me a little while to understand that an all-out brawl had just started inside and all I could do was sigh when I realized that my husband was probably right in the middle of it.

Telling the kids to stay where they were, Erza and I made our way inside and my suspicions were confirmed. There was indeed a massive fight in progress with Natsu and Gray in the center. Erza went over to the edges of the group to attempt breaking up a few people who were locked into battle and I knew I was going to have to use my Magic. I felt a strange burning sensation go through my veins and no Magic was seen as I tried to make it separate them. Trying even harder made the burning sizzle and I hissed out a breath. Something was deeply wrong and I hissed even more as I completely forced the Magic to erupt from me wildly, parting the fighters from each other as the shadows sputtered in such a feral way that I felt a tiny amount of fear send chills down my spine. The moment that Natsu looked over to me was exactly when I shut down my emotions temporarily, not wanting him to know that something was off. I didn't want for him to worry more than he had to. He gave me a suspicious glare before letting go of Gray and walking over to me, not saying a word about what just happened. I could only guess that he wanted me to say it on my own terms rather than be forced to tell him.

I thought about my Magic starting to act out of control the entire way home as we flew back to the mansion. The thoughts swirled about my mind like a constant stream, making me feel anxious and even more apprehensive to use it lest something awful happen to someone I cared about. I thought that Porlyusica might be right in saying that I needed to stop using my Magic entirely, but the tournament would be starting soon. Just like everyone else, I also wanted to take part in it to see who was the strongest of our four guilds. I barely even touched my dinner, eating only when Natsu, Rogue, or Zeref gave me confused looks about my lack of appetite. Just after Saphira had been tucked in with Ty and Happy and I was lying in bed with Natsu, his arm wrapped tightly around my waist in an attempt to soothe my raging thoughts and also to comfort me, I decided right then and there that I would stop using my Magic altogether right after the tournament. After I felt a bit better about the decision, I immediately crashed into a restless sleep.

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**R&R please! I'm curious to see what you all think about the chapter after the long wait.**


	4. Moments of Darkness

**Alright, I am back with yet another chapter! This one is on the twisted side of the spectrum. Things get kind of brutal at certain parts and others are slightly strange to the characters. Nothing absolutely crazy starts yet, except for a few moments of levity I threw in here since the story shouldn't have an air of seriousness until a bit later. Now, enjoy!**

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**Chapter 4: Moments of Darkness**

There were two days before the start of the much anticipated tournament. Everyone was waiting for when they could take out their rivals in battle, whether they were from the same guild or a different one. I knew that Gray was ready for his fight with both Natsu and Lyon Vastia, who was his rival back when they were both learning Ice-Make Magic together under the iron fist of Ur. Natsu, on the other hand, didn't care so much who he fought so long as the battle was fierce. I personally just held onto the belief that I could keep my Magic in check long enough for the tournament to be over with, not bothering with thinking about the battles at hand.

Right before the beginning of the first day, before Saphira dragged me out into the forest for me to train her with long range Magic, Rogue took notice of the fact that Frosch had disappeared. He thought that the little cat had just been exploring the mansion all night, but calling his name in the morning didn't bring him out of his hiding spot. Ty seemed worried about him as well and helped Rogue find him as we all looked around the house. About an hour later when we should have been eating breakfast, there was a peal of laughter as the front door swung open. We all ran into the main hall to see a cat in a pink frog suit, looking absolutely cheery as he walked inside.

"Frosch!" Rogue yelled before running down to his partner. He immediately scooped him up into his arms and hugged him tightly as the cat laughed even more. "Where have you been all this time?"

"Playing with a new friend!" Frosch told him with a grin.

"New friend?" I asked curiously. "Who is this new friend?"

"Don't know his name! He was outside and he said to come play with him!" the little cat said to me.

"Frosch, do you know where this guy is now?" Rogue asked him.

"No, he disappeared a few minutes ago," Frosch said, looking sad. "He went into the deepest part of the woods and was gone like a flash. He seemed like a mean guy until he said he wanted to play! He must not have a lot of friends."

Rogue looked worried as he looked over at me. "Timara, you're better at sensing things through the shadows than I am. Will you go out there and try to find him? I don't want him anywhere near my partner again."

I nodded and ran outside with Ty standing on my shoulder. I ran into the deepest part of the forest just like Frosch had said, sliding my hand into a shadowy patch near a large stand of trees and tried to find the man Frosch spoke of. Immediately, I could sense a presence that was trespassing here and I took off running in the direction of Magic that seemed to just seep out everywhere. This Magic felt foreign to me and I wasn't thrilled with it being anywhere near my family. I heard a sinister laugh when I had reached the very heart of the woods and it sent a cold shiver down my spine. I looked up into the boughs of the trees to see the silhouette of a figure practically zip from tree to tree. Just as I was about to take chase after it, the Magic faded from existence and I could no longer track it.

"What was that, Mara?" Ty asked me, looking a bit afraid. I sniffed the air and felt a jolt of surprise pass through me when I could smell what seemed like old blood, then sniffed again only to find that the scent was now gone.

"Whatever it is, it's gone now," I told her calmly. "Hopefully that man Frosch mentioned won't be back any time soon."

We headed back to the mansion and I listened carefully for any noises that shouldn't exist within the forest, not hearing another laugh or footsteps of any kind the entire way back. Once inside the mansion itself, I told everyone about figure I saw and how it just disappeared without a trace, then looked down to see that Frosch was looking a bit despondent as he kept his gaze on the floor. Ty hopped down from my shoulder to try to cheer him back up but to no avail.

"I told him that he shouldn't go traipsing about with strangers," Rogue said to me when I gave him a questioning look. "That man could have tried to kill him for no reason. Dark Wizards don't care who they kill and if they think he belongs with a Dragon Slayer, they'd kill him in a heartbeat."

"You didn't have to be so mean to him!" Ty hissed, her eyes blazing angrily as she glared up at my brother. He looked rather surprised at the fierceness in her tone.

"I wasn't mean to him. I just explained how serious the situation was to him that he shouldn't go off with a complete stranger."

Almost softer than a whisper, I thought I heard Frosch say that the man wasn't all that much of a stranger to him, but when Rogue questioned him about his words he refused to say anything more about the subject. He just sat there quietly with despairing look on his face as he continued to look down at the floor, Ty still trying her level best to comfort him. It was finally decided that I would go train Saphira some more but down by the lake where I didn't have to worry about the man in the woods.

The rest of the time before the tournament passed by quickly, especially since the first day Saphira had long range attacks down easily. I taught her a few tricks and now she had a devious look in her eye that seemed awfully familiar to me. After she had long range Magic down, she decided to take on her father in a mock battle. She mostly just used her Roar and Natsu "tried" to fend her off, falling in defeat as the little girl tackled him to the ground.

The next day, I sat down on a large boulder, my legs crossed beneath me as Natsu took his turn at teaching her melee attacks. I watched Saphira get very excited as her father taught her a move similar to the one he called his favorite. Ty sat on my lap as we both watched her learn some moves. She had everything mastered almost instantly and both Natsu and I were surprised by how fast a learner she was. When she asked to fight me, I set Ty down before hopping to the ground and walking over to her. Out of courtesy, I decided not to move into the shadows while we fought.

She definitely had my speed as she rushed at me, shrieking, "Fairy Dragon's Rainbow Fist!" Her hands were shrouded with a rainbow colored light that shimmered before she slammed one of her fists into me when I tried to sidestep away. Already, she packed quite a punch for such a tiny thing and all I could do was grin. "Mommy, you're supposed to fight back!" she yelled, giving me a pout when I laughed.

"Sorry, Saphira!" I told her as I let my shadows congeal around my own fists. I felt the uncomfortable burning back in my veins and I made sure not to let either of them see it as I ran to her. "Shadow Dragon's Slash!"

She jumped into the air before me as the rainbow light moved to her legs. "Fairy Dragon's Claw!" She kicked me and I fell to the ground, hiding my grin as I managed to wobble to my feet. I could tell that she was having the time of her life. "Fairy Dragon's Golden Arrows!"

Beams of golden light formed before her before shifting into the shapes of arrows, then launched themselves at me. I wasn't going to take those attacks because I would most likely turn into a giant pincushion, which didn't sound like a good time for me. I let my body shift into its shadow form as the fire in my veins burned even hotter, moving faster than either of them could blink and turning back into my tangible form when I was directly behind Saphira. With a laugh, I scooped up Saphira and twirled her around as she giggled happily.

"Mommy, that's cheating!" she screeched as laughed.

"You cheated first!" I told her as I smiled down at her. "You were supposed to just use melee attacks right then, not long range attacks!"

"I was excited," she said shyly, looking a bit on the sheepish side when I finally set her down.

I instantly sensed the familiar Magic of Rogue on the outskirts of the forest where he could keep an eye on us, so with a laugh I dived into the shadows and moved faster than a blur to him, ignoring the pain from using my Magic. I jumped out and he gave me a look of disbelief before I tackled him to the ground, accidentally making him smack his head back on a rock.

"Ow, Timara!" he yelled again. "Why do you have to be the abusive sister? Why can't you be the nice one instead?!"

"You wouldn't know what to do with yourself if you had a nice sister," I told him with a laugh. "You'd probably be totally lost in the world without someone like me."

"You'd think that you would try to be a good role model for your daughter. You're going to end up teaching her that it's ok to abuse her uncle as well."

"You and I both know that she's a perfect angel, totally unlike her parents," I told him with a smirk before getting to my feet, pulling him up with me as I did so. I heard someone calling my name and looked up towards the mansion to see Zeref running in our direction. I was quite puzzled over what this could be about when he slid to a halt in front of us, panting slightly as he hunched over. "Zeref, what's going on?"

"You mean you can't sense it?" he asked me, his black eyes flickering red for a few seconds as he looked me in the eyes. Now that he mentioned it, I had begun to feel a slight unease about something in the area, so I began to see if I could catch the scent of the figure again that had been in the woods. With a sniff, I wasn't expecting not to smell the old blood, but rather it was the smell of fire and smoke on the horizon. "I sensed the man that was with Frosch earlier. Next thing I knew, I could feel the life of the forest screaming in pain as it burned. I think he set fire to a part of the woods to get back at us somehow. Mavis told me to come get you. Maybe you can stop the fire at least."

"Natsu!" I yelled, turning towards the lake to see him look up at me, then run over with Saphira and Ty in tow.

"What's wrong?" he asked me curiously.

"I'm going to need you to come with me," I told him. "There's a fire and you're the only one of us who can stop it."

"Oh, good, I haven't eaten a good fire in a long time!"

I heard a gasp and turned to look at Saphira, who had a dazed expression as if she wasn't entirely with us. She seemed to be in her own little world when all of a sudden she shook her head, her blank expression shifting to one of fear before she took off running into the heart of the forest. I called out to her as Ty flew after her. I ran after them both as Natsu did the same, almost catching the little girl when she put on a burst of speed before using her Magic to camouflage herself. Even though she tried to keep her Magic hidden as well, she was still my daughter and I could just barely sense her. Deep in the forest, we could start to see through the darkness a red flickering light as everything began to heat up. Just up ahead, I could see Saphira just appear out of nowhere in front of a tiny shivering creature with Ty standing beside her. I slid to a halt with Natsu at my side, watching as the little girl picked up the little bundle of fur. With a gasp, I saw that it was tiny kitten with wings, which meant that this was a newborn Exceed. This kitten was a dark lilac purple color with white around her nose and mouth, eyes, paws, and the tip of her tail. The little bundle of fur had her eyes closed, rubbing her paws on her eyes as tears streamed heavily past her eyelids

"They're dead…" the little kitten sobbed. "I just hatched and this is what I see!"

"Where are your parents?" I asked the kitten calmly. I was instantaneously pulled back into the memory of when I had first found Ty as a kitten. Her parents had abandoned her in their nest and I happened to be there when she tumbled out from the branches, snapping one of her wings when she tried to fly to save herself. I vowed after that day to watch out for her no matter what.

The little Exceed let her paws fall down to her sides and opened her eyes, showing what looked like living mercury swirling within her irises as she gave me a withering glare that could rival Tyger's. "They're dead!" she screamed, sadness giving way to rage as the tears refused to stop falling. "Cut to ribbons! There's blood everywhere and fire!"

Before the kitten could say anything else, Saphira drew her close and hugged her. The kitten squeaked in surprise, not expecting such kindness after the horrors she had to endure after just hatching, before sobbing brokenly into my daughter's shoulder. Ty looked over at me and I could see from the haunted look in her eyes that she remembered her first moments of after hatching as well, going back after words to finally see her parents when she was grown up and being told what the real story was about why they left her. Natsu pulled me after him as he went to go stop the fire and Ty told me that she would watch out for both of them until we returned.

Heading closer to the blaze revealed what looked to be an Exceed colony, now broken and engulfed in flames. Natsu began to eat the fire straightaway as I looked around at the remains of the colony. There had been tiny houses and nests formed within the trees, some close to the ground and others up further in the trees. There were broken egg shells everywhere, littering the burnt grass and I moved further in to finally see the bodies. The charred remains of a huge number of Exceeds were scattered about near the center of the colony, some huddled together and others alone as they tried to escape from whatever horror they were met with. The kitten was right about one thing though. They didn't die from the fire. They died from being hacked to pieces by someone who had a lot of hate contained within their body. It didn't matter what reason they had for doing this, what mattered most was that they needed to be stopped.

I heard the last of the flames being eaten as I tried my best to sense whoever had done this, but the fire had destroyed whatever evidence had been left, whether it was the physical or Magic kind. I was beyond livid at this turn of events and I wanted nothing more than to catch the murderer right then and there. I heard Natsu approach slowly, examining the area closely like I had but not turning up any leads either. He placed a hand on my shoulder and turned me around to face him.

"We're going to have to tell Makarov what happened here," I told him quietly. "We might need to skip the tournament entirely if this person needs to be caught right away."

"We'll need to put up wards in the mansion," Natsu said. "I don't want any of us staying there while this creep is roaming about."

"No need. I've had my Magic infused with the house from the moment I first step foot in it. That's how I managed to string you up from the ceiling while I was asleep when you tried to sneak in with Happy to spy on Zeref and me."

We walked back to our daughter and Ty, Saphira still holding the kitten but now the little Exceed was no longer crying. It looked as if she had been giving a purpose to live now. "I gave her a name," Saphira told us both as we came into sight. "She said that her parents died before she could be told what hers really was, so she allowed me to come up with one for her."

Ty flew over and sat down on my shoulder, the kitten staring after her the entire time wistfully. "Reminds you of old times, huh?" Ty said in my ear.

"My name is now Nari," the kitten said, standing up on Saphira's lap and looking at me with a longing expression. "Can I stay with the girl?"

Saphira gave me a pleading look as well to try and sweeten the deal. I had already been making plans in my head as we had walked back to them since I knew that the kitten didn't have anywhere else to go with her family being dead. What I hadn't planned was the fact that Nari and Saphira would bond so thoroughly. They already looked inseparable now and it reminded me of all of us Dragon Slayers when we finally found our Exceed partner. Natsu had been that way with Happy when we were children and I was just the same way when I came across Ty while coming back from a job. With a smile, I nodded and they both yelled joyously.

"Just make sure that you take care of her, Saphira," I warned her. "You wouldn't want for anything bad to happen so that she gets injured."

"Oh, I'll make sure she stays safe! Thank you so much!"

She rushed over to me and hugged me tightly, the kitten squished between us as I hugged her back and she yowled loudly so that Saphira let go. I looped my arm through Natsu's as Saphira walked ahead of us with Ty flying beside her. I heard Nari yawn before a soft snoring sound could be heard. Both Saphira and Ty would take good care of the little one, especially Tyger since she knew what it was like to have parents gone from her life even if it was from a different circumstance.

"You know, there are days that I can say with certainty which one of us she acts like," Natsu said as he increased our walking pace. "Right now isn't one of those times. She's way too carefree to be like us."

"That's not true," I told him. "You might not think so, but you were carefree once. I used to see it all the time as a child and wished I could have that same moment of lightheartedness that you always seemed to have. I wasn't able to do that though, not with my beginnings in this world."

"Do you still think about the day you realized that your memories were gone as a child?" he asked me quietly.

"Occasionally, but not as much as I used to. The only times I do are when I start getting claustrophobic because my mind just gets so out of control that I can't contain all of my thoughts. They just run rampant and I'm left to deal with the consequences."

We stopped talking after that, just watching Saphira, Ty, and Nari ahead of us as we slowly made our way out of the forest. Although I wouldn't admit it to myself or anyone else, I thought I could feel the presence of some… thing. Some creature that felt more demonic in nature than anything I had ever been up against, even worse than the time I had fought against the fear version of Deliora. Then the feeling was gone in the split second that I felt it, so I just chalked it up to the now feral nature of my Magic playing tricks on me.

We made it to the edge of the forest and I could see Rogue, Frosch, and Zeref waiting for us. I could see that night was beginning to fall now, the sun dipping below the horizon, when something glinted in front of the dying rays of light. I squinted slightly, using my exceptional eyesight to just barely make out the shape of a flying craft heading towards Magnolia. It began to veer off course a bit as it headed in our direction and I finally caught sight of the front of it. I laughed when I realized that it was Christina, the flying ship that was owned by Blue Pegasus.

"I was wondering when they would finally show up," Rogue said beside me. "They certainly took their time, didn't they?"

As it approached, I saw two figures near the railing that were watching us patiently, both of them waving when I realized that Saphira was bouncing on her toes excitedly. When Christina was flying overhead not far away, the two figures jumped over the railing, one tiny winged figure grabbing the male while he grabbed the female, their descent rather choppy and fast before they all crashed down into the grass.

"We're never doing that again, Eucliffe," the female said in mock sternness, giving a glare over at the blond man.

"So you say," he said with an evil grin.

"Sting, Yukino, so glad you could finally join us," Rogue said as he shot them a smirk. "What took you so long?"

"You know how women are, taking forever with clothes and such," Sting said as he grabbed Lector out of the air. "She couldn't decide on just one outfit, she had to take them all. She made us late enough that Blue Pegasus had to swing by to pick us up."

"You liar!" Yukino yelled with a laugh, smacking him on the shoulder. "Blue Pegasus had already agreed to pick up the fighters from Sabertooth and Lamia Scale! Don't go throwing things out of proportion!"

"Uncle Sting!" I heard Saphira shout before taking off like a blur after the White Dragon Slayer. Letting Lector go so he could fly about, he grabbed Saphira out of the air when she launched herself at him. "I was wondering when you'd get here!"

"Blame it on your soon-to-be Auntie Yukino. She thought she had to look good for Uncle Rogue when she got here," he said, grinning when they both blushed profusely and spluttered about how nothing was going on between them. "Don't listen to them, they're a step away from becoming a mated pair and everything."

"That's not true at all!" Yukino said loudly as Rogue slipped away into the shadows, his face beet red as he escaped from his embarrassment. "We're not even dating or anything like that!"

"For now," Sting said under his breath so that only we Dragon Slayers could hear it, then with a laugh he carried Saphira and Nari off towards the mansion.

Natsu grabbed me by the hand and dragged me along, although I wanted to discuss this latest development with Yukino since my brother just managed to make his getaway already. I saw her mouth open once or twice like a fish before Zeref kindly escorted her to the mansion after us. Once we were all inside, Rogue waiting in the main hall already and taking Saphira to bed with Sting, I immediately took my chance to ambush her even though Natsu tried to stop me by covering my mouth with his hand. I bit him hard enough to make him let go and took the opportunity as Natsu tried to pick me up to carry me away.

"Yukino, are you with my brother?" I asked her loudly as my feet were dangling off the ground while I struggled to stay within the room.

She gasped, her blush getting much worse now and Rogue just appeared from the shadows beside her. "Let's shout it for everyone to hear, Timara! Might as well hang a banner throughout Magnolia in the process!"

Natsu stopped trying to get me away now, sighing since he knew the possibility of taking me from the situation where I could be nosy was now gone as I looked up at him. "Can we do that? Put up a banner, I mean."

"I'm sure you'd find a way to do so," he said, keeping his hold on me still.

"I want to know if the two of you are together!" I yelled, seeing them looking even more embarrassed now as I called them out on it.

Right before it looked like one of them might speak, I heard a voice from the top of the stairs. "Time to quiet it down, Timara," Sting said as he walked down to us. "I just tucked in Saphira and she was fast asleep with the kitten and the tiger cat when I left. But I also want to know the answer to that as well."

"Now I'm curious," Natsu said under his breath before looking over at the two of them while Zeref tried to slink away. "What gives? Are you trying to keep this a secret from everyone? If you are, then you're failing."

"There's nothing to keep secret!" Rogue yelled and I could see that he was debating on escaping again. I gave him a harsh glare that had him paling all of a sudden, then he took a slight step to the right towards Yukino. "We're not really together! I mean, sure I've kissed her and all but—" he tried to say before he was immediately cut off.

"WHAT?!" almost all of us yelled before we stopped ourselves, remembering the fact that Saphira was asleep upstairs.

"And you're trying to keep this from us?!" I yelled just before Natsu covered my mouth with his hand again.

"It's really not that big a deal!" Yukino said, sounding very frustrated now and close to tears when I saw Rogue brush the back of his hand against hers. That seemed to calm her a bit and I was then carried away from them by Natsu.

"You've got to learn to just let things go," Natsu said under his breath.

"You're one to talk!" I replied as he took me upstairs. "If anyone needs to learn that out of the two of us, it would definitely be you! You rarely ever just let things go!"

He didn't even bother with responding back any longer, just dragging me back to our room as I listened to the others get settled in their own after we had left. He set me down on the bed and then flopped down on it himself, yanking me backwards so that I was lying beside him where he could wrap his arm around my waist. He fell asleep much faster than I did, even then I felt restless as I managed close my eyes and let myself drift away into sleep.

* * *

The crackling of flames in the distance was what drew me in at first, making me think that Natsu was nearby as I tried to open my eyes. It wasn't until I heard a scream that my eyes flew open and a sat up from where I was lying on the hard ground. I could feel that I was dreaming, having enough experience with these kinds of disasters than with any other type of dream imaginable. Another scream that was just as ear-piercing had me standing up quickly. I turned around and was met with such a terrible sight that I almost began throwing up.

I was standing on a cliff that looked down upon a gutted city, fire blazing everywhere that was dark as could be. Down in the streets were bodies as far as the eye could see, just littering every corner with limbs and blood. There had been a river that flowed through the center of the city that was now stained red as the blood ran over into it and you could see the bloated forms of even more bodies floating along in the liquid itself. There in the middle of the city was a large corpse of a Dragon, one that looked to have a huge hole carved through it and straight into its heart. I felt my legs buckle as I collapsed on the ground, then something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.

There was a throne to my right, one that seemed to be made from body parts entirely that had been forced into the shape of the giant chair by shadows and blood. A shiver went down my spine as I saw a shadowy figure sitting there on the throne itself but I couldn't make out who it was. The figure had long claws stained red from the blood of innocent people and bared its long sharp teeth in an evil grin.

"This will all be yours one day," the demonic figure said in what sounded like a twisted version of my own voice. "You will one day have the power to slay everything and everyone who stands in your way. Revel in this truth for there is no changing your fate."

* * *

I sat upright faster than I thought possible, barely containing the scream that threatened to tear from my throat. My breathing was so erratic that I thought I might hyperventilate myself back into unconsciousness. Natsu finally took notice of my panic attack and sat up with me, pulling me close and rubbing my back soothingly. I shook violently as the fear slowly leaked its way through my system. I didn't know where that nightmare had come from, especially since it was so vivid and the last one I had that was similar was years ago. Someone must have planted that nightmare in my head, just like Acnologia had done all those years ago when he was trying to get me to turn over Zeref to him. The only thing I knew before finally calming enough to go back to sleep was that I needed to figure out what was going on now before it was too late.


	5. Battle of the Guilds

**Hello, all. This chapter isn't as crazy as the last, but it still has a bit of a bloody part to it. Aside from that, the fights between the guilds' children start now and everyone is super excited for it. Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Battle of the Guilds**

"Are you feeling all right?" I heard a voice whisper to me as I slowly felt myself waking. I could tell without opening my eyes that it was midmorning and Natsu was sitting up beside me on the bed, stroking my hair and trying his best not to worry. I rolled over onto my other side to face him and gradually opened my eyes, his face just a blur as I looked up at him. I rubbed my eyes a bit before sitting up next to him. "You've got dark circles under your eyes and you look as if you haven't slept in a month."

"That nightmare… it just really got to me," I whispered. "We both know that doesn't happen often when I'm so affected by a dream."

"I've seen you look disturbed by the dreams that Acnologia forced on you, but this was different," he said to me as he wrapped an arm around my waist. "I've never seen you look so freaked out before. What was the nightmare about?"

"Don't make me talk about it… Please," I said before pulling free from his grip tiredly. "It was awful and foreign, as if it didn't belong to me at all. It might have been my nightmare, but it was definitely someone else's…. sweet dream. This person is sick."

I refused to say anything more about the subject and was led out of the room by Natsu. Everyone else was waiting for us in the kitchen, where I was forced into eating breakfast even though I didn't think my stomach could hold it when flickers of the nightmare danced across my conscious mind. I kept seeing the river of blood and the corpses lying haphazardly in the streets of the decimated city, then the demon with my distorted voice that seemed to bask in the bloodshed before it. I still couldn't tell who it could be, but I knew for certain that it was the one to show me the hollow landscape. Ty flew over to sit on my shoulder, rubbing her cheek against mine to pull me from my dark reveries. I saw Happy standing on one of the counters, looking over at me curiously before staring at the kitten in Saphira's arms.

We all gathered in the main hall after I had eaten all that I could take, Zeref and Mavis saying that they wished to go see the tournament as well. From what Sting had told us, the Guild Masters had agreed that it would be best to camp out near the grounds where the tournament would be held and we would all get a tent when we arrived. Saphira was excited for this last bit of information, saying that she could share one with Payne so that they could tell scary ghost stories all throughout the night. I didn't say anything, just blankly thought that none of their stories would ever compare to the dream I experienced in the night.

Everyone except for Saphira and the cats, Ty not included, kept a careful eye on me as we walked into Magnolia. It was decided that we would all walk there since Zeref and Yukino couldn't fly. Not only that, but we had plenty of time to spare before the pretournament began for the children. Saphira was a mixture of ecstatic and smug since she might have to fight either Payne or Rowan, who had just finished the process of having a Dragon Lacrima implanted in his body the night before. She was also ready to see the other children from different guilds. There was one from Blue Pegasus and two from Lamia Scale, although one of the kids from Lamia Scale liked to alternate to Blue Pegasus from time to time because of his father. We passed through the city relatively fast, the tournament was already the talk of the town and children pointed at us excitedly as we passed by. A few chased after Natsu, who only laughed as we went along.

Our trek to the East Forest didn't take as long as previously thought. We soon could hear raucous laughter and shouts, along with objects being smashed to bits and loud yells from Makarov. The temperature dropped a few degrees as explosions of ice could be seen shooting from the trees, so I just knew that Gray was fighting with Lyon.

"It's a nice change of pace to know that Gray will fight someone else instead of you all the time," I said sarcastically as I looked at Natsu.

"It's amazing that you can sound so facetious when you should be dead on your feet," Natsu said flatly, smirking a little but keeping his gaze locked on the space between the trees where ice formations could be seen. "Is that another gift of yours?"

"Wait until our daughter gains that ability," I said, laughing when he groaned in exasperation.

We had just stepped foot into the large cleared out area where the tournament would be held when Makarov yelled, "GRAY, NO MORE FIGHTING WITH LYON! THE REST HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED!"

"Another thing I noticed," I said under my breath so that only the Dragon Slayers beside me could hear, "is that they both have the terrible habit of stripping. One of these days, they'll get in serious trouble for it and I hope to be there when that day comes."

The Dragon Slayers next to me all had an amused smirk on their faces as we watched the half-naked Ice-Make Wizards walk away from each other, glaring angrily at the other as they left to calm down. I saw Juvia run over to Gray, handing him his shirt so he could put it back on as their son ran over to Saphira. He looked slightly embarrassed as he dragged my daughter away with Nari in her arms. The other Exceeds flying around us gave chase to keep an eye on them since neither of us wanted the dark figure I had seen in the forest to attack them now that it had taken to killing innocent creatures.

An hour after everyone had finally filtered their way into the fighting grounds, the lineup for the children's tournament was shown on a board. Saphira was first up against a girl named Rylee from Lamia Scale, one that was an orphan that had been taken in by the guild. She could use Plant Magic, but it was mostly just vines she preferred. Saphira looked a bit nervous since it was her first real fight, not counting the one against Rowan. I cheered her on as I held onto Nari for her and I saw that some of her nerves calmed as she stared at the other girl determinedly. I wasn't surprised when the fight didn't last long. Saphira cut through the onslaught of vines easily with Fairy Dragon's Golden Arrows, then used her Roar and took the other girl down. That led her to advance on to the next round. She screamed excitedly and ran to her father, jumping into the air and forcing him to catch her. They both laughed as he hugged her and I leaned over to muss up her hair as she grinned. Payne came over as soon as Natsu set her down and gave her a congratulatory hug as well. Saphira took Nari from me as the two friends wandered a few feet away to watch the rest of the fights until it was Payne's turn.

The next fight was with Zoey and a boy from Blue Pegasus named Zander, his parents being Hibiki and Jenny. It made me laugh since it would be yet another fight between two wizards who could use Take Over Magic. Zander's Take Over Magic was Elemental Soul, which mean he could take different spirits who had control over certain elements and transform into them. Just like Zoey, however, he only had his basic spirit form like Zoey had her basic angel form. His body was covered in scaly plates that went up his arms and chest, almost like armor. He had bat wings on his back and fingers tipped with claws. His blond hair was spiky and part of his bangs covered one light blue eye. Zoey looked like an avenging angel, white gold hair fluttering behind her as wings the same colors were spread out behind her. She had on a simple white dress and what looked like a golden halo above her head. The fight between the two ended in a draw, which surprised us all, and they both passed out in a heap on the grass after using too much Magic.

The next fight was between Payne and Layla, which ended after about five minutes. Even though Layla was using her Shadow Ninja Kimono to be swift, Payne was faster with his control of the air. Whenever she seemed to disappear into thin air, he always seemed to know where she was at that exact moment and finally took her down. She glared angrily at him when the fight was over and I had to wonder if a new rivalry was soon to form as she walked back to her mother.

The last fight was between Rowan, the now Sound Dragon Slayer, and a boy by the name of Cam, who was the child of Ren from Blue Pegasus and Sherry from Lamia Scale. Cam had Shadow Magic, which only made me grin and await the day where I could fight him myself when he got much older. Rowan had a devious smirk on his face as he let out his Roar, making every Dragon Slayer nearby cover their ears since we were so sensitive to the sound. Everyone else looked quite uncomfortable from the noise as the boy's eyes lit up before punching the other kid in the back of the neck to knock him unconscious. He practically pranced off the field with a look of glee, marching over to his father who gave me a flippant look before congratulating his son.

Since Saphira no longer had an opponent due to the draw between Zander and Zoey, she waited with Nari in her arms so she could cheer on Payne during his fight with Rowan. Payne looked a bit nervous when the new Dragon Slayer child ran out onto the field and cheers went up from everyone who was watching before the fight started.

Once a whistle started that sound the beginning of their match, Rowan shouted, "Sound Dragon's Roar!"

I covered my ears with my hands again and watched as Payne was blasted off his feet from the sound waves. Saphira was instantly on her feet, looking like she might charge to Payne's rescue when Ty, Frosch, Happy, and Lector all grabbed hold of her and tugged her back. Nari hissed at Rowan, her eyes swirling like mercury as she glared down at him and clutched at Saphira's arms. Payne slid to a halt in the grass a few feet before standing and seeming to just disappear as a gust of wind surrounded him. I saw Rowan stay still as he listened, then a big grin formed on his face as he whipped around.

"Nice try! Sound Dragon's Howl!"

An enormous screech that sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard was heard as he punched Payne right in the stomach. The poor kid was sent flying again and rolled a few times after hitting the ground, very much unconscious from the last attack. I heard Saphira let out a scream of anger and outrage as she pulled free from all the cats' grips and rush down to Payne. Gray and Juvia had taken a step forward, looking as if they might go help their son when Saphira looked a little bit relieved that he was uninjured. She looked up at Rowan and I thought I could see her eyes flash red for a split second.

"How _dare_ you do that to my friend!" she screamed at him.

Nari hopped down from her arms and stood beside Payne's motionless form. "Go get him," was all the little kitten said before Saphira nodded and rushed towards Rowan.

"Sound Dragon's Roar!" Rowan yelled, a blast of sound travelling straight at Saphira.

She dodged it quickly before using her own Roar, making it a direct hit that landed Rowan on his back. Using her speed that was a tiny bit slower than mine, she used Fairy Dragon's Rainbow Fist to punch him in the eye before leaping away so he couldn't use the attack that took out Payne. She stayed back away from him, dodging his Roars and hitting him with Fairy Dragon's Golden Arrows repeatedly until he hit the grass in exhaustion, admitting defeat to her grudgingly.

"Can't really say I'm surprised at this turn of events," Sting said. "Look at who her parents are."

"Maybe if you'd settle down one day with someone, you could have a kid as awesome as mine," I told him. "I mean, Rogue is closer to that opportunity than you are and he is the last person I thought would have a girlfriend."

My brother was immediately blushing, sending a glare my way as he yelled, "Shut up, Timara! I don't have a girlfriend!"

"Tell that to Yukino, who gives you such longing looks whenever she catches sight of you."

He blushed even redder and then silently sank down into the shadows to hide from my teasing, gone before I could stop him. I was sure I could chase after him and tease him some more, but I stopped myself when I saw something that caught my eye at the other side of the forest. I tilted my head to the side slightly and saw a figure standing on the very outskirts of the forest, just within the darkness where others couldn't see her but I could due to the fact that I was so in tune with the darkness. Even though she was wearing a long black cloak with a hood, one that I actually couldn't see past to catch this person's identity, I could tell from the form that this was a woman. The edges of the hood were rimmed in white, along with two stripes of white on the shoulders, one white stripe that went down her chest, and then ribbons of gold along the front that connected the white stripes. On one of the gold ribbons near her throat was a red orb that held the cloak together and she held onto the rest to keep it close around her.

She must not have been expecting for anyone to notice her but when her head turned in my direction, I faintly heard a gasp of fear as she took a step back. I could then sense the fear rolling off of her at the sight of me before she took off, darting between the trees as fast as she could and finally disappearing from my sight. If the dream had confused me, then this really puzzled me. The only people who were truly afraid of me were Dark Guilds, specifically one by the name of Black Eclipse, which I had singlehandedly destroyed with the use of Etherion. I didn't think the woman could be a part of that now disbanded Dark Guild, but I couldn't really decide if she was evil because she had run from me.

"What in the world is going on here?" I asked myself quietly.

"Did you just see something?" I heard Natsu ask, snapping me out of my thoughts as I looked over at him.

"I'm not entirely sure," I told him. "I thought I saw a woman… Never mind, I must be imagining things after all. It's just been an extremely strange day."

The rest of the day was spent waiting patiently as Hibiki from Blue Pegasus, with Jenny by his side, inputted the names of each person within a team into a huge board made from his Archive Magic. We all watched distantly as the names were put in and then he hit a randomizer button that made the names shift around like the speed of light before they settled down into their true spots. I heard a whoop of joy from Natsu when he took notice of the fact that we would be fighting Gray and Juvia during the first round.

He whipped around, facing the direction where Gray was sitting with his wife, and yelled, "I get to destroy you in the first round, stripper! You better prepare yourself!"

"I don't think so, pyro!" Gray shouted back. "If anyone is losing tomorrow, it will be you and the Shadow Queen!"

"I really can't let my darling Gray lose the fight so early on, so you can count on me to help beat them!" Juvia exclaimed, looking a bit misty eyed as she stared off in space.

"Now, listen here, Ice Princess!" I yelled at Gray, crossing my arms to show how serious I was and giving him a smirk. "Your Ice-Make Magic must have really fried your brain if you think you can beat both of us in a fight!"

"It didn't fry it, it _froze_ my brain," Gray said. "Get your facts straight, Shadow!"

I let out a growl at his last word, glaring at him as Natsu had to pull me away. Back when I first joined Fairy Tail after watching my foster father Skiadrum die at the hands of my brother, I had refused to speak a word to anyone, only giving Makarov my name so I could be a part of the guild. Since no one knew who I was or even what kind of Magic I used, they typically left me alone until one day I allowed them to see the shadow animals I could create. After that, Gray started calling me Shadow and everyone else followed suit. I despised that nickname but I couldn't protest much with words since I wouldn't talk, so I instead beat him mercilessly until Natsu pulled me away and outside. He had a one-sided conversation with me out beside the lake behind the guild hall, not once deterred by the unending stare I had and the silence I refused to break.

"You know better than to call me that!" I yelled, nearly breaking free of Natsu's hold and rushing at the Ice-Make Wizard, who looked a bit on the pale side.

"Here we go again…" I heard Rogue say behind me as he stood up.

"You can never tell who the hothead is out of the both of them," Sting said under his breath as he did the same.

As Natsu pulled me back with the assistance of the other two Dragon Slayers, he shouted, "Wait until tomorrow when we get to fight them! I don't want for us to be disqualified early!"

When night had finally fallen, huge tables on the far side of the field were set out and we ate dinner. I barely ate what was set in front of me as I had the strange feeling that I was being watched. I couldn't see if it was the woman or maybe even the figure from the forest behind my mansion. All I knew was that something was out there, waiting for some unknown reason. After the food was gone, practically devoured by all the males and the children, we set up tents for the night and settled in for restful sleep. I could hear giggling from the tent next to ours and knew that Saphira and Payne, along with Nari, Ty, and Happy, were telling jokes and the occasional ghost story since they could stay up for however long they'd like. Natsu, who was practically covering most of my body with his as I lay flat on my stomach, was breathing softly near my ear and I listened to his breaths as it somehow lulled me to sleep.

* * *

"Oh, Timaaaaaaaaaaara!" I heard a voice call out to me melodiously. "Time to wake up!"

I didn't know quite what the voice meant, since I was slowly realizing that I was in another dream. It took me a few seconds to figure out why the voice sounded so familiar, then I remembered that it belonged to the demon from my nightmare last night. My eyes flew open and I saw that I was lying flat on my back, looking up into the face of a figure entirely covered in shadows. The only places that the shadows didn't touch where its eyes and mouth, which is how I looked straight into blood red eyes that gleamed maliciously. It grinned at me, baring a set of sharp white teeth with fangs that were even sharper. I saw its shadowy mane that looked like hair fall down over its shoulder as it spread its wings wide. A female demon is stalking my dreams, I thought to myself as it spoke again with a distorted version of my own voice.

"So impolite to stare!" the demon said with a giggle, one that sounded psychotic coming from her mouth. "You _really_ ought to be taught a lesson!" Then she giggled again when she realized what she said. "Wow, those words rhymed! Ought, taught! Ought, taught!"

She repeated it a few more times before I interrupted her. "Ok, I'm not listening to this anymore. Who are you and what do you want with me?"

An evil gleam appeared in her eyes as she grabbed me by the throat, then lifted me into the air as if I weighed nothing. The demon lifted a hand to her face, tapping her index finger lightly against her bottom lip and forcing her claw to break the skin on accident. A few beads of blood appeared and she licked it away before giving me a puzzled look.

"Who am I?" the demon asked, stuck on just that part as she went over it again in her head.

"Yes, what is your name?" I asked, wording it differently so that she would understand.

She thought about it for a few seconds more before a carefree smile, one that was twisted and crazy, formed on her face. "That's a good question! I renounced my name years ago! I have no name now, nor do I need one."

I couldn't believe that this was the same demon from my last nightmare. They both acted totally different, one being serious and feral while this one was crazy and downright cheery with a mischievous side.

"Demon, I want out of this dream right now," I told it calmly. "I don't know why you entered my dreams but it needs to stop right now."

That was when I saw it. Her expressions changed from its crazy, happy-go-lucky state to the expression of the demon from my last nightmare. Uncontrolled rage sparked in her eyes as she bared her sharp teeth at me like a Dragon would. She squeezed my throat tightly, making me gasp for air as I heard her laugh ominously. I was beyond shocked when I saw her eyes leached away the red irises and left them to be completely colorless, which made her seem even more intimidating than before. Her claws dug into the skin on my neck and I felt blood drip down, her eyes drawn to it as she stared hungrily before back into my eyes. It was almost if she was waiting for any hint of fear to be shown, but I refused to give it to her.

"You listen right now," the demon said, her voice low and deadly. "You might think you are the one in control here, but you are gravely mistaken. I could kill you right at this very moment without batting an eye because I've done it many more times before this. Do you doubt my words, lowly human?" All I could do was shake my head in response as I watched my vision darkening ever so slowly, then the demon gave me a deathly calm smile. "Excellent choice. You're not as foolish as I thought."

She let me go and I crumpled to the ground, finally taking notice of my surroundings. It was a completely white landscape, no trees or other markings of any kind to be found. It was just a sea of white all around that the demon could most likely manipulate. She really was the one in charge here and that only infuriated me even more. I gave her a withering glare that had her go expressionless again.

"What do you want with me?" I repeated again, letting my irritation be heard in my tone of voice.

"Watch your tone, human," the demon said before aiming a kick at me that smashed into my jaw. I felt my teeth click together painfully and it was a wonder that I didn't manage to bite my tongue off in the process. "I don't need to tell you anything. Just shut up and give me your full attention." I tried to speak again to affirm that I understood when another kick slammed into my stomach and sent me airborne. I gasped as the air left my lungs, coughing heavily when I hit the ground again and blearily watched the demon leisurely approach. "I do believe I told you to shut up. Now this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to lead you down the rabbit hole and show you more of your unchangeable fate. You'll get a new scene every night until we can finally meet."

Grabbing me by the collar of the tank top I was wearing, she hoisted me into the air and moved towards a large hole in the ground that hadn't been there a few seconds ago. I began to struggle fiercely, not wanting to go through seeing more destruction and heavy bloodshed like last time. When the demon finally had enough and stopped at the edge of the hole, she moved her head quickly so that her face was extremely close to mine, snapping her jaws close enough that I thought she might bite me on purpose. This made me freeze long enough so she could jump down into the hole in the ground with me and we landed a few feet below on a balcony.

"Ah, the capital city of Crocus," the demon sighed whimsically. "The place you will one day take up residence when it comes time to destroy the country of Fiore."

She pushed me forward towards the edge of the balcony and I felt my stomach twist in disgust, forcing me to hunch over the railing as I tried not to throw up again. The sky was no longer blue, now a lifeless red as flames that were both shadowy and normal burned perpetually throughout the city. The lake was filled with the bodies of dead Dragons, what little water that was left after being displaced by the corpses was a blackish red color. What had me retching over the balcony after all my efforts were the bodies impaled on the spiked walls surrounding the castle. I was pretty sure, even though I didn't want to go for a second look, that the nobles including the royal family were draped through the spikes. I felt a mind numbing terror seep through my mind and into my bones as I dry heaved, tears of panic slipping down my cheeks at this horrible sight.

"No more," I whispered brokenly before letting out an inhuman shriek. "No more!"

I heard a psychotic giggle and turned to see that the demon had regained her blood red eyes, covering her mouth as she laughed. It was the carefree, crazy side again and I was beginning to wonder if she had split personalities or if she was really off her rocker when the demon grabbed me by the front of my tank top, pulling me close so that our faces were only inches away. She grinned cunningly at me and gave me a bit of a shake.

"One last thing I should tell you before I let you go!" the demon squealed with a demented form of happiness. "Watch out for the woman in black! She will lead you astray from the glorious destiny that was set upon you! Farewell, Timara!"

* * *

I could vaguely hear an unholy wailing as I woke myself up from the dream, noticing after a few seconds that I was sitting up stock still and the noise was coming from me. I heard Natsu jolt away as I leapt from the tent itself and took off at a run out of the makeshift campground. Fear is what burned its way through me as it forced me into the darkness of the trees as I let out another wail, jumping up easily into the branches of the trees. I jumped from one to another faster than a blur, tears streaming down my face as I went.

"No more!" I screamed just like in the nightmare.

I hadn't quite made it to Porlyusica's home when I felt catch in a twisted branch that I hadn't seen while my vision blurred from crying. A squeak of surprise passed my lips as I tumbled headfirst to the ground. My head connected with a branch and then a root on the ground, making me feel dazed and disoriented as I shivered. I could still sense the wrongness of the dream, especially since I knew deep down that I couldn't ever go through with something like that. I couldn't kill innocent people like that!

I moved over a bit, catching sight of a rocky outcropping and making my way over to it while crawling on my stomach. There was a rather large shrub that blocked a bit of an indent in the stone, so I moved closer and curled up within it. It was cold out in the middle of the night and I wasn't used to sleeping without someone next to me, so I shivered even more from the temperature. I could vaguely hear people calling my name but it didn't fully register that I needed to care as of yet. I whimpered a little, the tears stopping entirely, and closed my eyes while hoping dearly that another nightmare wouldn't appear.


	6. True Start to the Tournament

**Hello to all the dear readers! I've decided to shake things up a bit and did something a bit different with this chapter. I thought it would be a good idea to try out a different point of view from one of the characters for a little while and then shift it back to normal. It fit well with the ending of the chapter, which I swear I won't spoil. Now, enjoy the latest chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: True Start to the Tournament**

As I felt myself slowly waking, I was disappointed for I didn't want to stop sleeping. What confused me was the fact that I felt comfortable and that my forehead was cold. Opening my eyes revealed that I was sitting between Natsu's legs so I could lean back against his chest to sleep and a towel filled with ice was pressed against the skin on my forehead. I was still located in front of the rock outcropping that was hiding by the shrub and Ty was curled up on my lap.

"You had a fever in the middle of the night after I found you," Natsu whispered into my ear. "Are you sick or was it from the nightmare?"

"Let's go with the second option since I really don't know that for sure myself," I said with a hiss as my head hurt.

He moved the icepack from my forehead after he had determined that my fever was gone, then placed it on my jaw where I realized with surprise that it still hurt there. "Did you fall from the tree and hit your jaw? There's a huge bruise there," he asked me and I froze up instantly. I had a feeling that if I pulled up my tank top, I would find bruises on my stomach where the demon kicked me.

"Do I have cuts on my neck, too?" I asked quietly. I felt him shift a bit behind me as he checked just like I had asked. He stopped moving and stayed silent, refusing to give me my answer but still confirming my suspicions. "So I was right."

"Timara, what is going on? Tell me, please. I won't let this go until you let me know what's happening with you."

With a sigh, I began to tell him about the horrible things that were contained in my nightmares. He stayed quiet and listened as I told him about the first one, about how I saw a city that had been ransacked, the bodies and blood everywhere as far as the eye could see. Then I brought up the demon with a twisted voice like mine, one who acted like a crazy child one minute and feral the next. After that, I told him about how the demon said that it was my fate to destroy Fiore and that I needed to watch out for a woman in black.

"This demon," he finally spoke up. "What did it look like?"

"All I know is that it's female, has taken my voice, doesn't have a name, and that its eyes change when it shifts personalities. Aside from that, it stayed completely covered in shadows so I couldn't see anything more about it."

There was a rustling noise nearby and for some reason I flinched, scooting back closer to Natsu before I could fully realize what I was doing. He wrapped his arm around me that wasn't holding the icepack to my jaw. He whispered calming things in my ear to get me to stop shaking as the rustling got closer. I felt Ty wake up on my lap and tilt her head to the side as she listened to the noise, then a slight gust of wind moved the shrub just enough to reveal Wendy and Carla.

"I thought I would find you all here," Wendy said as she crouched down in front of me. She gave me a smile, one that made the strange fear subside. "Come now, Timara! I'm not _that_ scary!"

She reached over and placed her hand lightly on the bruise on my jaw once Natsu moved the ice pack. There was a light heat the spread along my jaw for a few seconds before a chill replaced it. She did the same for my stomach and the cuts on my neck. She looked a bit worried while she worked and I knew she was curious as to why I was injured in the first place. She didn't ask any questions about it, but I could see that Carla had a knowing look on her face before it disappeared when I shifted my gaze to hers. She seemed a bit shifty but I couldn't question her since Wendy stood up, picking up her partner before giving us a smile.

"There, all done! You're as good as new!"

Natsu stood up and pulled me with him as I grabbed Ty. The cat in my arms looked up at me curiously and I had a feeling that she had secretly listened in on the conversation with Natsu about my nightmares. We headed back to the tournament, which had already started after Ty and Natsu found me. He told them not to worry and to just start without us until he could get me back to the tournament grounds.

"Romeo and I teamed up," Wendy told me, determined to explain the fights so far to the both of us. "We were up against Chelia and Lyon in our round. I defeated Chelia rather easily, but Lyon was another matter entirely. Romeo and I couldn't beat him and our team went down in defeat. The next match was Erza and Jellal versus Ichiya and Eve. That match was pretty great. Ichiya tried doing that creepy thing again where he sneaks up on Erza and sniffs her, so Jellal got pretty mad and punched him as hard as he could in the face. Ichiya was knocked out cold so it was easy for Erza to dispatch Eve after that. When I left to find you all, it was Mira and Laxus against Ren and Sherry. I'm not sure if they're still fighting right now, they might be done since Mira and Laxus are pretty strong."

As we reached the outskirts of the fighting grounds, Natsu spoke up. "Wait, Jellal is here?"

I groaned at his words. "Are you serious? He's been here since yesterday!"

I couldn't tell if he had done that to be an idiot or to distract me, but I still felt a bit better as I laughed with him. Standing out on a hill that overlooked the tournament grounds, I could see the fight below us was just wrapping up. Laxus and Mira, who was in her basic version of Satan Soul, had Ren and Sherry on the ropes as they tried to defend themselves from their attacks. Laxus blasted them with lightning, hitting a barrier that Ren had put up with his Air Magic, and Mira flew down at the barrier itself to crack it wide open with a strong kick. It shattered into pieces as Laxus' lightning hit them and they screamed before hitting the ground, quite obviously defeated by that point. Mira turned back to normal and ran to Laxus, jumping and throwing her arms around him and he twirled her around.

"They're going to be a handful if we are matched up with them in the finals," I said mostly to myself.

"Already so confident that we're going to make it that far," Natsu said and I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was grinning. "I love it. You're right though, they definitely won't be easy to beat. We can take them though."

"Makarov said that since we had to start so late because we all pitched into find you that we would take a lunch break halfway through the tournament," Wendy told us before walking down with Carla to the tables where everyone was setting up lunch.

Natsu dragged me down there after him and I saw Saphira running towards us, pulling Payne along with her in one hand and carrying Nari at the same time. She gave Payne the kitten, who hissed and looked rather angry at that turn of events, at the last second before jumping at me and I let Ty go so she could hover above me as I caught her. I always found it funny that she liked jumping before hugging someone who was much taller than her.

"Good, you're ok!" Saphira said, burying her face in my shoulder as she wrapped her arms around my neck. "I was worried when I heard you screaming in the middle of the night! Was it the ghost stories that Payne and I were telling that scared you?"

I kept one arm around her waist to keep her balanced on my hip and stroked her long pink hair as I tried not to laugh at how earnest she was. "Yeah, that was it," I said sarcastically with a grin. "Scariest ghost stories I've ever heard in my entire life."

She looked up at me worriedly until she saw my expression, then laughed a little instead. "Don't tease me like that, Mommy!"

I apologized and set her back down, ruffling her hair a bit before she ran back to Payne and Nari, who looked beyond tempted to claw her way back to Saphira. Once she was back in my little girl's arms, her expression shifted to one that looked peaceful and settled down. We walked over to the tables where the food was now scattered everywhere and sat there to eat. I could hear happy talking and angry mutterings over the tournament. I guess there was a betting pool about who the winning team would be. I had already put my money on my team and the other big contenders were Erza and Jellal, Mira and Laxus, and last but not least Sting and Rogue. Gajeel seemed angry when only a few people bet on his team to win and Levy tried her best to calm him back down. What had me laughing throughout most of lunch was the fact that no one bet on Gray and Juvia after they saw on the board that their first round was against Natsu and me.

"Don't you people see that I can beat Flame Brain and his Shadow Queen?!" he yelled, looking furious.

"Gray, your shirt," I said absentmindedly after having looked up at him for a split second and continuing to eat.

He gasped slightly as he noticed that the clothing in question was now gone again. Without looking up from her plate, Juvia grabbed another shirt for him and held it up for him to put on. He did so quickly and I saw Payne clap a hand over his eyes in embarrassment. Saphira and Nari snickered a little and Payne looked over at them to give them a glare.

"Juvia, my dear, you should really break him of that habit," Lyon said under his breath.

"Hey, you were told not to flirt with my wife!" Gray yelled before throwing what looked to be a chunk of ice he created in a brief second at him.

"DON'T YOU DARE START FIGHTING EACH OTHER AGAIN!" Makarov bellowed, making them both sit down fast. I heard a few people snort in amusement as they tried to keep their mirth hidden but I burst out laughing, earing twin glares from both Ice-Make Wizards.

As soon as lunch was over, Makarov yelled that it was time for the second half of the first round to commence and I felt excitement rush through my veins as Natsu and I stood up to make our way over to the middle of the fighting grounds that was surrounded by hills so everyone could see what would take place. I saw Gray and Juvia approach the grounds on the other side and we turned to face each other, a large distance between us so we couldn't fight right away.

"You know the rules!" Makarov yelled to us. "I don't want to see any cheating out there and I _especially_ want to emphasize to you two, Natsu and Timara, that you better not annihilate the forest during this fight! Keep the destruction to a minimum!"

"Hey, that's profiling, Gramps! We wouldn't do that!" Natsu called out to him.

"Who exactly were the two people that got arrested recently for destroying a bunch of property in Cedar?" the Guild Master asked sarcastically, which shut Natsu up as he looked a bit sheepish. "That's what I thought. You two are my problem children."

"Formal protest!" I shouted, raising my hand into the air as I had a smirk on my face that I knew he couldn't see.

"Denied!"

"Ok, informal protest!"

"ALSO DENIED!" Makarov bellowed and I giggled a little. "FOLLOW THE RULES FOR ONCE AND STOP COMPLAINING! NOW LET THE SECOND HALF OF THE TOURNAMENT BEGIN!"

I already knew which of the two in front of me I would be fighting before Natsu jumped into action. Fists ablaze, he roared as he launched himself towards Gray, who looked beyond thrilled that the day had come where he could fight Natsu and get away with it. I heard a rushing noise as water crashed in waves towards me and I jumped into the air before it could hit me, grimacing a bit at the pain of using my Magic as shadowy wings formed on my back. I looked at Juvia, who had a smirk on her face before using Water Slicer and I slashed through the watery blades with a sword made from my Magic, my veins beginning to burn more and more with the Magic I expended. I let the sword dissipate before flying full speed at her while dodging more blades of water. As I formed claws on my hand, I slashed through her just to stupidly remember that I couldn't attack her that way with her Water Body.

"Nice try, Timara!" Juvia said gleefully. "You can't beat me like that!"

I had to flip backwards to avoid a whip's lash of water to the throat and landed on all fours before jumping into the air to avoid yet another wave of water. The burning was starting make my Magic shudder, imperceptible to anyone but me, and before I could stop it a sword was formed as it floated beside my head. I could hear a faint buzzing noise as the shadows thickened even more, then launched itself faster than I could grab it at Juvia. She didn't seem to think it would do that much damage and didn't move, which is why I was shocked when it hit her and huge blue black bolts of electricity crackled through her. She screeched in pain before hitting the ground, down for the count as I landed in the grass.

I couldn't think more about the consequences of what I had just let happen as an explosion of Magic rocked the earth, nearly knocking me off my feet entirely as I looked over to where Gray and Natsu were fighting. Gray had a shield of ice in place just before Natsu blasted it with his Roar, fire being displaced everywhere as it reflected off of it. I felt the burning in my veins intensify as a blue black ball of flames erupted before me, giving off an extreme heat and I once again couldn't stop it before it zoomed at Gray. I hissed as it carved a hole into the ice shield and hit him hard, making him howl in pain before landing flat on his back. Neither of our opponents looked very happy at having been defeated and not one of them noticed how shaken I was to discover that my Magic was becoming out of control.

* * *

**XxXxX**

* * *

"Aww, Saphira, your parents won!" Payne said, looking over at me with a mix of happiness and sadness. "I'm ok with it but I still wanted mine to win!"

"You should know better than to think that," Ty said to him with a grin, who was sitting between the two of us with Nari, making sure the little kitten didn't take off somewhere. "My Mara is the best."

"Why do you call my mom 'Mara'?" I asked the tiger striped cat curiously, pushing my long pink hair over my shoulders when it slipped past them.

Ty turned her head in my direction and her blood red eyes lit up as she said, "When Timara found me as a kitten, I couldn't completely say her name. So I've always stuck with Mara as my endearing name for her."

I remembered hearing the story from my mom about how she met her partner all those years ago and each time it made me a bit sad. Tyger even told me about when she finally met the Exceeds that sired her, as she put it rather stiffly whenever she talked about them. She said that she wanted nothing more to do with them and that my mom was her only family then, now extending that right to Natsu, Happy, and me. She was even fond of Payne. You would never have guessed that she had been abandoned at an early age and I thought that might be what drove her to look after Nari like a mother would. She knew what the loss of a parent could be like and that having a partner or someone to look after her took the bite of hurt away.

Nari looked up at me and gave me a small smile, her eyes now storm grey since she wasn't angry. "Don't let them know this, but I rather like those parents of yours."

"Me, too!" I said with a laugh, picking her up and hugging her as I looked back down at the fighting grounds.

I watched my dad walk over to Gray, extending an arm so he could pull him up and then I looked over to my mom. I was surprised when I saw that she was looking down at the ground with a confused expression. Then I saw her stand up straight as she held her hand under nose for a few seconds. I squinted my eyes to see if I could get a better look and noticed when she pulled her hand away that there was blood, some of it still dripping down so that she had to wipe the rest of it away. Her expressions went blank as she looked at the blood there and then wiped her hand on her dark shorts to get rid of it.

"You were supposed to let me take care of Gray!" my dad turned around and yelled to my mom, snapping her out of her daze.

She had a smile plastered to her face, one that I had a feeling was fake, and yelled back, "You were taking too long! If you don't want me to step in next time, speed it up a notch!"

He immediately let go of Gray, who then fell back and hit the ground hard, and ran over to my mom. I couldn't hear what they were saying because they were too far away, my great hearing not even enough in this case. He grabbed her so he could hug her tightly, then dipped her backwards so that he could plant a kiss on her lips.

"Ew, gross!" Payne said, turning his face away at the same time as me. "Why do adults have to do that in front of kids?!"

"Because they're weird, that's why!" I told him.

"You _do_ know that you'll be adults one day, too, right?" Ty asked with a mischievous grin.

"I'd still never do that in front of kids!" I told her as she just laughed.

"We'll just have to see about that then."

Hand in hand, my parents walked over in our direction, my dad looking happy that they had won and my mom pretending so no one would see the guarded look behind her eyes. They sat down next to us, Ty walking over to sit on my mom's lap as the last two fights played out. Right after their fight, it was Lucy and Yukino against Hibiki and Jenny. No one seemed to be expecting the turnaround towards the end that led to a win being given to Lucy and Yukino. I thought that it was Loke's fault that they won in the first place. Loke waved over at my mom before disappearing in a flash of golden light. The last fight of the day was Lisanna and Cana versus Gajeel and Levy.

"I hope that iron windbag loses," my mother said under her breath, making us all laugh a bit.

"You just don't like him because he blames you for nearly drowning in the lake," my father informed her.

"He should have learned to swim in case he was ever put in that situation," she grumbled.

"But if he's the Iron Dragon Slayer, wouldn't that mean he would just sink no matter what?" I asked curiously.

She made another grumbly noise and we laughed again. Although Cana had the ability to use Fairy Glitter, Gajeel was still a Dragon Slayer. Before long, Levy and Lisanna were both out and it let the other two to fight it out. A few minutes more and Gajeel managed to connect a nasty Iron Dragon's Club to Cana's jaw, knocking her out and Gajeel yelled in victory.

"Great, the big iron dummy wins…" my mom said again. "Oh well, can't be helped."

Dinner was a hurried affair since everyone just wanted to get some sleep because they were getting excited about the next day's matches. Everyone was really excited for the fights of Lyon and Chelia versus Orga and Rufus, Erza and Jellal versus Mira and Laxus, my parents versus Uncle Rogue and Uncle Sting, then last but not least Lucy and Yukino versus Gajeel and Levy. Even I was excited for it, although I didn't want to see my parents beat up my uncles. I wouldn't know who to choose to win when the time came for them to fight.

After that, I went with Payne to hang out in the tent between our parents' with the three Exceeds tagging along. We told ghost stories long into the night and I could hear that my mother wasn't fully asleep, staying just aware of her surroundings so that she didn't fall unconscious. It was around midnight when the moon was in the center of the sky that I heard someone calling to me. I told Payne to stay in the tent as I wandered outside with Nari, moving further into the woods where the voice was getting louder and louder.

"Saphira…."

It sounded kind and loving, like being embraced in a warm light with every step, almost as if my mom was hugging me right at this moment. I laughed and kept walking, even as Nari squirmed and tried to catch my attention. I was so entranced by the warm voice calling to me that I never even heard the threatening laughter in the background.

* * *

**XxXxX**

* * *

"Mrs. Dragneel, wake up!" I heard a worried boy's voice filter through the tent as I opened my eyes. I hadn't fallen asleep on purpose so that the nightmare wouldn't take hold but I hadn't been expecting to drift off a bit.

"Payne, I thought I broke you of the habit of calling me that," I told him sleepily as Natsu began to stir. "Seriously, kid, you don't need to be so uptight with me."

"But this is important and you know I'm polite when I'm worried!" he said, sounding close to tears as he tried to stay as quiet as possible. "Saphira is gone!"

I was instantly sitting upright, startling Natsu and making him do the same. "What do you mean, she's gone?"

"She kept talking about how she could hear someone calling her name. She just wanted to find out who it was so she got up and left with Nari. I only thought it was one of the other kids who had been doing it as a prank, but now she hasn't been back for ten minutes! I'm worried about her and Ty has already left to go look for her!"

"Natsu, search around the camp and see if you can't find her," I told him. "I'll go check out the forest and track her down if she went out that way."

"I want to come with you," he said, looking like he might rebel since it was his daughter, too.

"Trust me, you can't this time. I can actually see in the dark whereas you can't, so you'd only slow me down."

I knew my words were blunt, but I didn't know how else to get him to listen to me. After a few seconds, he finally nodded and got out of the tent, beginning his search of the camp as I crawled out of the tent as well. Payne looked really worried and I told him to go help out Natsu so he would be distracted from having to wait. He nodded quickly and took off running to Natsu, who I could see was telling him something and making the boy feel a bit at ease. My husband looked up at me and motioned with his head that I needed to go now. I nodded and ran towards the forest where a familiar dark figure enshrouded in shadows stood.

"So you've heard?" I asked, watching as he stepped out into the moonlight with Frosch.

"My partner woke me when he couldn't sense Nari," Rogue said. "Now I think it best that I go with you. I don't want you out there alone."

"Rogue, I'll be fine," I said.

"I don't really care. You haven't told your Guild Master about the danger that seems to be following you. Following me, too, now that I think about it. If that guy can get to Frosch, he can get to me and he can get to you if you go alone."

I could see that I didn't really have much of a choice in this matter as he had his arms crossed stubbornly like he was waiting for a fight. I shrugged and started to walk towards the edge of the forest, catching Saphira's scent and taking off at a run to the east. I was extremely thankful for the fact that I could see in the dark as the path through the forest that Saphira took was wild and covered with branches that had sharp thorns. I was frustrated with trying to dodge them after a while and jumped up into the tree branches, Rogue following suit soon after with Frosch in his arms. After a few minutes, I heard the fluttering of wings and Tyger came into sight. I grabbed her out of the air and hugged her, then held her out away from me so I could look at her.

"Did you find her yet?" I asked, hoping nothing more than that she was here to take me to her.

"No, I've looked everywhere," she said, looking just as worried as I felt. "Just up ahead, her scent disappears. Not only that, there is this huge wall of darkness. I can't tell if it's natural because we're so far into the forest or if it's the Magic kind. I headed back this way to find you so we could go together."

I nodded and hugged her again. "Good job getting this far. I'll take it from here and we'll find her together."

I jumped from tree branch to tree branch until we passed the thorn filled shrubs and I jumped down to the ground where her scent was strongest. I heard the thump of Rogue hitting the grass behind me and we ran after the trail. Just like Ty had said, her scent faded and I slid to a halt when I caught sight of the wall of darkness Ty talked about. It seemed to extend everywhere, almost shivering like water but I couldn't tell that for sure.

"I think it's from Magic," I said quietly. I tried to make the shadows dissipate, even a little bit, but it refused to obey me. I looked over at Rogue and he looked just as confused as I was, so I knew he had tried the same thing. "The only problem is that I can't control it. That's a first."

"What do you think that means?" Rogue asked me.

"It means that this Magic probably isn't just shadows but something else mixed in. This is something entirely different and I'm beyond certain that Saphira is in there somewhere."

"Is it a wise choice to go in there then if we don't know what kind of Magic this is? What if it does something to harm us?"

"We don't have any choice," I told him with a growl. "My baby girl is in there and I want her back."

Without a second thought, I jumped past the wall of shadows and into the darkness itself. The moment I passed through it, it felt like a mixture of fire and ice hitting me all at once and I let out a hiss as I felt my Magic burning in response. It felt like it was trying to pull itself out from within me and I did my best to keep it in place. What disturbed me most was how silent it was. No birds chirped or animals rustling in the trees and grass, so it was definitely a menacing area. I turned around to see Rogue and Frosch go through it, looking every bit as uncomfortable as I was feeling. I could just barely see them through the darkness and I counted that as a blessing.

"I can't see anything," Ty whispered. "Can you?"

"Just a few feet in front of me and that's it," I told her, petting her head to calm her a bit. "Thank goodness for being a Shadow Dragon Slayer, right?"

"No kidding," Rogue said and I saw him holding Frosch tighter as the little cat shivered heavily in fear. "Never once have I been this grateful to be one in my entire life."

I turned around after Rogue moved to stand beside me and I moved deeper into the ominous shadows. After a minute or so, I could see a light up ahead, one that stuck out in all the darkness. I knew right then that it had to be Saphira. I took off running to the light and moved even faster when I saw the small form sitting on the ground with the golden light in her hands.

"Saphira!" I yelled and saw as she stood up quickly, looking over at me happily.

"Mom!" she yelled as she ran over to me with Nari sitting on her shoulder. I hugged her tightly as she did the same and I could feel her shivering a little.

I looked up and thought I could see something moving within the darkness just outside the bubble of light that Saphira caused. I moved my daughter behind me as Ty let out a hiss, moving to stand on my shoulder as she must have sensed whatever was hiding there. Rogue moved Saphira closer to him as I took a step in front of them both.

"Stay away from my daughter!" I growled. "I don't care if you do anything to me, but you leave Saphira out of this!"

I waited for some kind of response, anything to show that the creature or person in the darkness would answer, but I never got one. I let out a frustrated hiss and led Saphira and Rogue out of the thick darkness that covered us. Pulling free of the wall of darkness and heading back to the camp, I didn't think to look back once. Maybe I should have. I didn't see the darkness behind me shiver and shift until the shape of a humanoid creature was standing there, colorless eyes that burned with rage as it focused in on the male Shadow Dragon Slayer next to me and it let out a low growl that showed off its long sharp teeth. It turned back to the darkness and snapped its fingers, the wall of darkness moving over to it and being absorbed into its body before the whole creature disappeared into the darkness of the night.


	7. Devastation

**Hello, everyone! Here's the latest chapter for you all! You find out a hint about the demon and then the rest of the tournament unfolds afterwards. It's a rather cool battle until the bitter end and I think you'll all like it. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 7: Devastation**

"You've got a lot of nerve, don't you," I heard a growl just before a fist slammed into my eye.

I hissed as I hit the ground hard, covering one eye with my hands as I opened the other. Once more, I was surrounded by the sea of white that I was growing the hate. I looked up as the demon with the now colorless eyes walked closer, every step filled with hate and fury as she approached. A sudden blast of wind hit us both and the shadowy mane of hers whipped around with the shadows pouring off of her. I felt fear crash through me, but I refused to let this demon see it and kept a blank expression.

Knocking my hands away from my eye, she grabbed me by the throat and slammed her fist into my jaw. I was angry now and tried to make the shadows within my body blast into her but it was as if a barrier had been formed in my mind to stop me. The demon laughed menacingly as she lifted me to my feet by my neck and dangled me off my feet. "Did you really think you could fight back that way? I'm a thousand times stronger than you, even more so in this dream and I shut off your Magic in here on purpose. Poor little Timara, can't do anything without that large amount of Magic you have."

"I can still kick your ass without it," I growled, twisting in the demon's grasp and forcing her to let go of me, her claws slicing my skin shallowly in the process.

I sent a punch to the demon's ribs, then kicked her in the head when she hunched over a bit to send her to the ground. With a chuckle, she grabbed my wrist to drag me with her and then rolled on top of me, pinning my arms above my head with one hand and punching me in the other eye with her free hand. I yelled as kicked her in the back between her wings and sent her flying over my head to free my hands. I scrambled to my feet as the demon did the same, hoping that the skin around my eyes wouldn't swell up and bruise too fast so I lost my vision. I heard a psychotic giggle as the demon leapt to her feet, her once colorless eyes now blazing blood red as she bared her fangs in a grin.

"You're pretty good!" she said jauntily. "Not good enough, I'm afraid. I'll need to end this quickly or you won't be able to see what I have in store for you next!"

She moved towards me, almost faster than a blur, and I only had a split second to dodge her before she kicked me in the side hard enough to shatter the lowest few ribs. I hissed out a breath, trying not to focus on the pain as she ran at me again. I slammed a punch into the demon's nose, hearing a snap as her nose broke but she didn't pay attention as she caught my arm in an iron grip. I tried to pull away, but she held on to me as the blood dripped down to her lips, standing out in stark comparison to the shadowy skin she kept tightly bound to herself. She grinned as her tongue flicked out to catch the red droplets and hummed a little.

"Naughty girl," she said. "Now to ensure you'll stop fighting me."

Her eyes shifted back to their colorless state as her expression went blank and her free fist slammed down onto my captured arm with enough force that there was a sickening crunch when the bones in my arm were broken in several different places. I couldn't stop the scream of agony that slipped past my lips as I clutched my arm to my chest when the demon finally let it go. Pain radiated from the bone and I shivered in shock, taking a step away from the demon to put some distance between us but she wouldn't have it. She snatched my broken arm back to squeeze it, seeming to enjoy my screams of anguish as she created another hole in the ground like last time.

"It's really much better if you stop resisting," the demon said impassively. "No more pain, no more anguish. Seems like a pretty great deal for you."

"I'd rather die," I told her venomously.

The demon was unresponsive as she led me by my broken arm to the dark hole in the ground, one that seemed to flicker a dark red occasionally and I knew I was going to be seeing something just as awful as last time. My broken ribs and arm were jostled when we jumped down and there was a cracking noise as the demon set her nose back in place after I had broken it. I rubbed my eyes the best I could as the smoke and ash was swept past us and then gasped when I saw the destruction before me.

"The second strongest guild at this time, wiped out in an instant," the demon said and I caught the edge of bitterness in her voice, something that confused me greatly for a split second until I focused on the scene before me.

Down below the large hill we were standing on was land that belonged to Sabertooth. The building with the large saber toothed cat was engulfed in flames, the fire extending high into the sky within the darkness of night. I looked down and could see blackened bodies that looked as if they had tried to escape some terror that chased them. Even though it looked as if they had been burned away by fire, I could just tell that it was something else. Something sinister caused all this and it wasn't a Magic I was familiar with. I recognized one of the bodies to be that of Yukino, her golden keys still in her hand. Gasping, I searched frantically for either Sting or Rogue, hoping that they weren't there and thankfully I couldn't find them.

"You won't find either Rogue or Sting," the demon said as if she could read my mind. "They have their own gruesome path to follow."

"Don't tell me that they have to go through this, too," I whispered.

"No, only you rule the world later in life but I hope Rogue burns."

* * *

The pain woke me up instantly, but I couldn't open my eyes due to the fact that they were swollen shut. Thankfully, I was lying on the side that didn't have broken ribs and clutching my broken arm to my chest as I curled my legs up to my stomach as far as possible. I whimpered quietly as the pain in my arm slowly increased but I fought to stay calm enough for the next thing I had to do.

"Natsu," I called to him as I listened to birds chirping, signaling that it was now morning. The wind started up and tugged lightly at the tent we were in and I heard him groan a little as he slowly woke for me.

"What is it, Timara?" he asked me sleepily, throwing an arm around me and hitting my ribs just right that it send a shudder through me as the pain intensified. That seemed to wake him more and I could feel the concern starting to roll through him. "Are you ok?"

"I'm going to ask you to do something and you're going to stay as calm as can be. Can you do that for me?"

"Sure, what's going on?"

"I need you to go get Wendy for me," I said. "Bring her back as quietly as you can, ok?"

"What's going on?" he repeated, grabbing me by the shoulder and turning me onto my other side so that I was now facing him. I heard his sharp intake of breath as he saw the damage and I winced a little until I felt his hands cupping my cheeks. "What happened to you?"

"Another nightmare," I explained simply. "I've learned something about the demon at least. She despises Rogue for some reason"

"That doesn't excuse what happened," Natsu said quietly, kissing me on the forehead quickly before I could hear him moving towards the tent flap. "I'll be right back with Wendy. Just wait for me."

I heard the tent flap flutter as he left and I was caused to be alone with my thoughts. This demon seemed to know an awful lot about my supposed fate. She even had what looked to be a longstanding hatred for Rogue but I knew that if I asked him about her, he wouldn't have a clue who I was speaking about. I was beginning to think that this demon wasn't actually a demon at all, but someone who was determined to keep her identity a secret for as long as possible for some reason. I just needed to figure out what that reason could be.

I heard the tent flap flutter twice and felt Natsu's strong arms around me as he lifted me into a sitting position. "Natsu wasn't kidding when he said you looked broken," I heard Wendy's soft voice say. "Keep her still please. This might hurt a little, Timara, since there's a lot of damage."

"Just fix my eyes first," I said quietly. "I miss the ability of sight."

"Hey, be serious," Natsu said as he shook me slightly.

I apologized and stayed still, leaning against him as I tried not to shiver from all the pain. I jumped a bit when Wendy placed her hands over my eyes but relaxed as I felt a sudden warmth. "The bones around your eyes are broken. How did all this happen?"

"It's hard to explain," he said for me. "We'd tell you if we really knew ourselves."

"I dearly hope you aren't doing this to yourself in your sleep," Wendy said, but I knew her heart wasn't in her words so I knew she didn't believe it.

"I wouldn't do this," I told her calmly as the heat from her Magic shifted to a chill. I hissed a little when the pain increased for a few seconds before it faded and I could finally open my eyes. I saw a worried looking Wendy with Carla sitting beside her. I felt Natsu absentmindedly rubbing my back, what seemed like the only uninjured part of me, and I had a feeling he was doing it more to comfort himself than me. "When I said I wanted my sight back, I didn't mean I wanted to see all these worried looks for me," I said, somehow mustering a wan smile that had Carla and Wendy rolling their eyes.

"Stop trying to make light of the situation," Natsu said right next to my ear.

He held my broken arm gingerly before extending it out for Wendy to heal. When she put her hands over the broken parts, an involuntarily shudder passed through me and I winced again when I felt heat sink into my arm. The pain increased and I had to fight not to move, so Natsu kept hold of me to keep me still. I held my breath slightly, closing my eyes and then letting out a sigh of relief when the heat turned to cold after about thirty seconds. Fixing my ribs didn't take nearly as long and then healing the cuts on my neck that still bled only took a couple seconds.

"It looks as if Ty turned into her tiger form and mauled you but I know for sure that didn't happen since Ty loves you," Wendy said. "I'm not going to ask why this is the second time I've had to heal such wounds or why it looks as if someone really hates you enough to do this, but I know for a fact that it's no one in this camp that did this."

I could hear people beginning to stir already as she got up to leave, crawling through the tent flap. Natsu grasped me by the chin and turned my face towards him so that he could look me in the eyes. "How are you doing?" he asked me and I could see that he was distressed by all this, embers of fear for me burning in his dark eyes.

"I'll be just fine," I told him with a feeble smile. "Don't worry about me, ok? I'll find a way to get through this, you know that."

"That doesn't change the fact that I _hate_ seeing you like this!" he yelled, startling us both and making him stay quiet for a few seconds before his voice came out as a whisper. "I can't protect you from an enemy I can't see."

He kissed me quickly before giving me a sad look as he left the tent. I was feeling anxious now about his demeanor but I filed it away in my brain for later since the tournament had to take prevalence. I left the tent and had breakfast with everyone, people leaving me alone except for Ty. I looked over at Saphira who was playing with Nari and Frosch. He was trying to convince the little kitten to get an animal suit like his, but she seemed adamant about getting something else besides one of a frog. Saphira suggested a dragon suit and I saw Nari's ears shiver a little in excitement.

"Great, now we're going to have to get Nari a dragon suit," I said under my breath as Ty laughed.

"Frosch has been acting like a bit of a father figure for her," Tyger said. "You know, not when he's acting all goofy."

"Yeah, but you like that goofy little cat," I informed her.

"No I don't!" Ty refused and I could see the blush she was trying to hide from me.

"Don't deny it, Ty, I've been with you for years. You get quite upset whenever he leaves for Sabertooth with Rogue and you are quiet for days."

"I will deny it all I want," she said petulantly but I saw the smirk on her face.

After breakfast, the tournament started back up again, the first match being Lyon and Chelia versus Orga and Rufus. I sat with Natsu, Ty, and Happy at the top of one of the hills where my husband informed me to relax before our match because I had a stressful night. Saphira, Nari, and Payne were a few feet down the hill where they could be separated from us and yet still remain within my sight. I had told her to stick around an adult Dragon Slayer, S-Class Wizard, or Guild Master at all times and she wasn't very happy about me limiting her movements. I was sure she was probably discussing it with Payne and he was most likely telling her off about her actions last night for me. I had never seen that poor boy look so worried before.

I was extra convinced as the first match ended that there had been some cheating involved when Lyon and Chelia came out to be the winners. Even Gray, who was within yelling distance, agreed with me as we argued over what their method of cheating could be. Makarov yelled at us to stay quiet because they hadn't cheated at all, but I didn't believe it whatsoever.

The next match set a buzz of excited chatter off as Erza and Jellal walked out to one side of the fighting grounds while Mira and Laxus took the other. The crowd began cheering for either side and I couldn't tell who I wanted to win in this case. Erza drove me absolutely crazy sometimes, but Laxus did as well. I just shrugged and waited for the whistle to blow to signal the start of the match. Once it went off, Erza Requipped into her Black Wing Armor as Mira turned into her Satan Soul, both immediately jumping into the air like a streak and clashing. Laxus and Jellal launched attacks at the other at the same time, a heavenly light hitting lightning simultaneously and causing a huge explosion of light that blinded everyone.

It soon became clear to me that I wasn't going to keep up with both sides of the fight as Jellal and Laxus began fighting punch for punch while Erza and Mira kicked and slashed at each other in midair. It was a blur of sparks and flashes of light that hurt my eyes more than the others, before long after another huge blast of lightning and light it was seen that Jellal and Erza lay on the ground to admit defeat.

"Now that's something you don't see every day," I told Natsu.

"It was Jellal's fault," he explained. "You probably couldn't see it since you're sensitive to light but Jellal accidently blasted Erza, knocked her off balance so that she was left open to an attack by Mira, and then blasted with Mira's Soul Extinction. I think it was luck that had the battle swinging to Laxus' side or it might have ended in a draw."

Soon as the field was cleared, it was time for our fight against Sting and Rogue. I ruffled Saphira's hair as I passed by, Ty jumping down to sit with her, Payne, and Nari. Happy, Lector, and Frosch all came over to sit with them while the fight went on, only Ty cheering loudly for me to win while the others talked. The talking of the wizards watching was like a roaring in my ears and I knew they were just as excited as I was, but I was still feeling a bit apprehensive about if my Magic would stay within my control. I also had to make sure that Rogue didn't try to eat my shadows because I could tell that it wouldn't end very well for him if he did.

"Remember!" Makarov yelled to us. "I don't want you to make this a childish fight between siblings, Timara. No cheating, play fair, and NO COMPLAINING, YOU TWO!"

"Jeez, Gramps, we wouldn't dream of doing that," Natsu said with a grin, making Makarov just cover his eyes with a hand and shake his head in exasperation.

The whistle went off and the fight began, Natsu going after Sting while I charged after Rogue. I think people were really anticipating the fight between two Shadow Dragon Slayers. He immediately shifted into his shadow form with a grin, his eyes glowing like two red orbs. I did the same, my body allowing the shadows to cover me entirely as the burning started back up. He aimed a punch at me and I dodged it quicker than he could blink, kicking him in the back so he hit the ground. Rogue growled as he got back up on his feet and I tackled him to the ground, snapping my teeth close to his face with a laugh.

"Wow, look at those pretty golden eyes," Rogue said. "They're almost as cool as mine."

"That would be because mine are much better," I told him with a grin just before he managed to push me off.

"Timara, get down!" I heard Natsu yell to me and I jumped to the ground just before a huge blast of white light passed over where I had been standing.

"Really, Sting?" I screamed, turning my head to see that the White Dragon Slayer was cackling hysterically before Natsu used Fire Dragon's Iron Fist and slammed a fiery punch to his head. I knew that brat tried to hit me on purpose just to enrage us both.

Rogue grabbed me by the shoulder to drag me to my feet and I grinned as I swept my leg out to trip him. He slammed into the ground and pulled me with him, not prepared as I hit him with Shadow Dragon's Slash and then leapt away faster than he could catch me. The burning was getting intense and I didn't know how long my Magic would hold my shadow form when Rogue charged at me. I used my Roar, which he dodged at first but didn't miss the sword I created that zoomed past him to hit him in the shoulder. He let out a growl before slicing claws through it that made it disappear. He looked as if he was about to devour my shadows and that was when my Magic surged, blasting from me like a wave as it felt like molten lava replaced the blood in my veins. Rogue looked up at the shadowy wave in curiosity before it slammed into him and I could see what looked to be tiny flashes of light within it. Just like the tide, it swept back towards me and absorbed back into my skin, leaving the motionless form of Rogue who looked as if he had taken a nap there.

I whipped around to see that Natsu was already done with Sting, a smug look on his face as he looked down at the unconscious Dragon Slayer. He was probably picturing all the times Sting had hit on me and that's why he looked so thrilled to fight him. Blood then began to flow freely from my nose and I hissed, quickly pressing the back of my hand to my nose as I felt deeply unsettled. It was starting to get worse the more the tournament dragged on. Two more battles were left and I could only imagine what would happen next.

Lucy and Yukino's fight with Gajeel and Levy ended with the Iron Dragon Slayer gloating about his easy victory while Levy chastised him for bragging. She apologized to the two girls, who acted very sullen over their loss. I saw Yukino head over to where Rogue was sitting, brooding over his loss as well. Even though I knew it was a bad idea to use my Magic so soon, I was instantly in my shadow form before Natsu could stop me and began slinking over to them, knowing gleefully that they wouldn't be able to see me.

"Are you all right, Rogue?" Yukino asked him as she sat beside him, closer than one would sit with a normal friend. I was thrilled that they chose to sit just in the shadows so no one but me could see them.

"I'm fine," he said simply. "I was just thinking about my defeat. How about you? Are you ok?"

"Not going to lie, I'm upset about my loss as well," she said, bumping his shoulder with hers. "I wanted to fight against your sister for all the teasing she's been doing to us and for the fact that she beat you the way she did during your match."

"Wait, what do you mean?" he asked her, finally turning to look at her as I titled my head in confusion.

"Haven't you noticed? She's hiding something that has to do with her Magic. That's how she beat you with one move."

"If she is hiding something," Rogue said quietly, "then she has a good reason to do so. I know my sister well enough to say that she's probably trying to protect the people she cares about. It's nothing to be angry with her about."

"You're right, I suppose," Yukino said, gazing into his eyes. "That still doesn't change the fact that I'm still irritated with her teasing us."

"If only she knew how right she was," Rogue said with a grin, grabbing Yukino's chin to keep her still as he planted a kiss on her lips.

Getting the evidence I needed, I jumped from the shadows and left my shadow form entirely. "AHA!" I screamed, making them both jump apart in shock. "I _knew_ something was going on between you both! You little liars!"

"DAMMIT, TIMARA!" Rogue roared, getting to his feet and chasing after me as I ran off while laughing hysterically.

I ran as fast as I could towards Natsu as everyone's heads turned to the scene Rogue and I were making. "Save me, Natsu!" I laughed, jumping at him and wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist as he turned me away from Rogue.

"What the hell did you do to make him so mad?" Natsu asked as a chuckling Sting appeared to pull Rogue away the best he could.

"Caught him in a lie," I told him with a devious smile, feeling extremely proud of myself. "Stupid brother of mine, thinking he can keep a secret that big from me."

"What secret are you talking about?" he asked as he pried me off of him so I would stand on my own now that Rogue left.

"The little liar was kissing Yukino where he thought no one could see them. I don't care what he tries to say, those two are together."

"And yet you wonder why he chased after you like that…"

Lunch was served quickly and I could see my kid just shaking her head at me, so I had a feeling that she had seen the moment I had with my brother as he had chased me about the grounds. The next set of fights started right after lunch, the first one being Lyon and Chelia versus Mira and Laxus. It didn't last very long since Laxus blasted away any of Lyon's attacks and Mira barely even gave Chelia any time to defend herself. Chelia was defeated quickly and then Mirajane turned on Lyon, who looked rather sullen after he was defeated soon afterwards.

The last fight of the semifinals was Natsu and I versus Gajeel and Levy. I took Levy down faster than any of my previous opponents and practically pushed Natsu out of the way to get to Gajeel. Oh, did I have a problem with him… Gajeel told Natsu he might as well sit down and watch the fight because he was going to fight the "girly" instead. My Fire Dragon Slayer was beyond angry at that and as I used my Shadow Dragon's Roar, he used his and it melded in midair just like it had in Cedar. I cringed as it hit Gajeel directly and then blasted a path through the trees. Gajeel went down and I could hear Makarov yelling at us about how we were told not to destroy things. When no one was looking, I turned around and began coughing heavily, seeing blood on my hand and I winced. It was getting much worse now.

The final battle was about to start, this time Natsu told me to leave Laxus to him. I was perfectly fine with that since I wanted to get my revenge for all the times Mira picked on me back when I couldn't talk. I knew she wasn't like her old persona anymore, but payback was long overdue and I could see her smiling over at me.

"Payback, huh?" she said, not looking angry or miffed that I was probably planning it.

"You had to know it was coming eventually," I told her, laughing a little.

"I wasn't exactly what one would call 'nice,' but I didn't pick on you nearly as much as other people who I didn't consider a close friend," she said. "Are you still angry about all the times I called you Shadow?"

"No, I reserve the anger for Gray since he came up with the stupid nickname."

The whistle went off and Mira used her Take Over Magic to shift into her Satan Soul, the wings erupting from her back just as I had formed mine from the darkness. We jumped into the air, kicking and punching faster than the observing eye could see. It was great to have someone to fight against that could match my speed and I grinned wildly. We flew backwards for a brief second before rushing at each other again and clashing fiercely. When we flew backwards again, I had a bloodied nose while she had a bloodied lip.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever fought the She-Devil before," I said. "Wish I had sooner than this because this is such fun."

"No kidding," Mira said in the voice of her Satan Soul. "No one has been able to keep up with me, so I'm glad I could finally fight the Shadow Queen." There was a huge explosion below us, one that nearly knocked us out of the air entirely. "Well, I think it's about time that I finished this now to help out Laxus."

A dark light surrounded her quickly, completely obscuring her until a few seconds later when the purple black light disappeared, revealing that her Satan Soul shifted into her Sitri form. I couldn't let her beat me that easily and with a blast of darkness I shifted into my shadow form, tendrils of it lashing off of me before I flew at Mira. She grinned as the fire at her feet intensified, trying to punch me only to discover that her fist went straight through my stomach as the shadows were displaced.

"Sorry, but you can't attack me this way," I said with a laugh.

I made my fists solidify within the shadows and hit her as hard as I could, making her fall out of the air and hit the ground with an explosion of dirt. I dived down after her when she got back up and kicked her down when I made my leg solidify instead. Before long, she was down for the count and I turned around to see that Natsu had just created a prison of crystals that glowed red, the heat coming off of them scorched the ground. Laxus admitted defeat, looking just as battered and bloody as we all must have felt. Cheers went up as it was shown that we were the winners of the tournament. I knew that there was one battle left, the one to see which of the two of us were the strongest, but I felt my legs buckle as I crashed to the ground. I caught myself on my hands and knees just as I threw up blood. My vision went spotty as I kept retching over and over until I was dry heaving. I felt my hearing go away just as my vision did, so I flinched when I felt a hand on my back. When my stomach stopped protesting, I felt myself being picked up as I passed out.

What felt like days later to me but was probably not all that long, I opened my eyes to slits to see the inside of Porlyusica's home. I was in what I called the infirmary side of the house, the ceiling covered in leaves and flowers as I gazed upwards. I heard a soft cough that was meant to catch my attention and I turned my head to see Porlyusica, her expression blank as she observed me.

"I was wondering when you would be back, but I never expected it to be like this," she said quietly.

"Where's my family?" I asked, my voice sounding raspy at first.

"Just about everyone from the guilds are camped outside my house," she said, sounding grumpy about it. "Natsu, your daughter, the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth, and all the Exceeds are in the living room waiting. I had to hit Natsu and Rogue with a broom to get them to leave you long enough for me to check your condition."

"So what's apparently wrong with me?" I asked, sitting up slowly as I felt exhaustion pushing at my mind.

She didn't look very happy about what she had to say next. "You remember when you absorbed Etherion, correct?" When I nodded, she carried on with her explanation. "When I checked you out while you were in a coma after using it, I discovered that not all of it had left your body when you transferred it back to the Main Cannon. It altered your cells so that a small portion of it remained in your body and infused itself to your Magic. It's changing your Dragon Slayer Magic to increase Etherion within you and since you won't use it enough to release what's left or allow it to change you…"

I waited for her to continue, but she seemed really hesitant to say something. "Porlyusica, what aren't you telling me?"

Her expression hardened as she said, "Timara, you're dying and you have a year at most to live, depending on what you do next."


	8. Trip to Crocus

**Hello, everyone! I just wanted to thank the people who have read the story so far and a special thanks to those who have followed it. It's greatly appreciated. This chapter sheds some light on one of the people who have a tendency to stalk our beloved characters and reveals their identity. Not only that, but you get to find out what Timara plans to do about finding out she's dying. We all know she's a stubborn individual. Now I will stop my babbling and allow you to enjoy the latest chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Trip to Crocus**

I'm… dying?

I didn't feel as if it was entirely real, as if I was stuck in another nightmare, only this time there was no waking from it. It would explain why I had been bleeding so heavily from my nose and why it had suddenly increased to vomiting blood as well. I only had about a year left, which also seemed impossible but wizards who were dying often lived longer than people without Magic who are in the same situation. Dragon Slayers typically live even longer than regular wizards who are dying as well. It was the fact that we had the Magic of Dragons coursing through us and they are magical beings through and through.

I was so thoroughly in my own mind that I didn't hear what Porlyusica said to me. She leaned over and tapped me on the shoulder, dragging me from my thoughts and I looked up at her to see that she looked annoyed with me. I asked her to repeat whatever it was that she said and then she sighed again. She did not look very happy about it.

"What do you plan on telling your family?" she asked roughly.

A part of me jumped to attention, saying that I needed to tell them the truth right away. They had a right to know that I wouldn't be here in this world for as long as I planned. Another part of me slithered its way to the front of my mind and said that it would be best not to tell them right away. It would kill them to know the truth right now and that it would ease their pain to find out later. I couldn't tell which the most rational idea was but I knew which I would choose.

"I don't," I said simply.

"What?!" she exclaimed. "Are you crazy? Do you know what that will do to them?"

"They'll be fine, that's what will happen," I told her quietly, looking down at the wood floor. "They won't know about it until closer to my death. I'll tell them then."

"Wow, that's morbid," she said. "You do know that if they find out beforehand and figure out that you didn't tell them, they'll be extremely hurt and angry."

"I'll deal with that if it happens."

"I think it's more like _when_ it happens."

She told me that I should just stop using my Magic entirely, allow for Etherion to make changes to me, and only use it in dire circumstances. I agreed and came up with the story to tell everyone as to why I collapsed the way I did. All I could do now was hope dearly that no one found out my secret. Porlyusica helped me stand up, keeping an eye on me so I didn't wobble then nodded as she followed me into the main room.

First thing when the door opened as we walked through, I saw everyone scramble to their feet and whip around to look at us. The first person to move was Natsu, who rushed over to me and hugged me tightly. I squirmed a bit when it soon became clear to me that I couldn't breathe and he finally let up a little. He refused to entirely let go of me, stroking my hair and sniffing a little so I knew he was secretly upset.

"Are you ok?" I asked him, keeping my head against his chest.

"I think I should be the one to ask that!" he said and I could feel him shaking. "So, are you all right? You're not sick or worse?"

I shivered a little at how close he was starting to get to the truth but I shut down the slight edge of fear I could feel creeping nearer and shook my head. "I'm fine. I used up too much Magic at such a rapid rate. Porlyusica said that this would happen ever since absorbing Etherion."

"Is this true?" Natsu growled and looking over at the older wizard.

I hoped she would confirm my story and she stayed silent for a few seconds before nodding. "That's correct. It altered her Magic slightly so that she can't expend it as fast as she used to. The tournament just aggravated the situation."

I was thankful that she lied for me but she looked rather mad that her hand was forced. I knew she disapproved of me lying to them all but I didn't care by that point. I heard Saphira start crying in relief as she ran over to me, hugging me around the legs as she sobbed. I wrapped one arm around her and kept the other around Natsu, feeling guilt gnaw at me as I thought about my lie. Porlyusica told them not to let me use Magic for a few days and then shooed us out of her home.

It was decided that the very last battle between Natsu and me would be cancelled. We didn't need to know who the better of the two of us was just yet. He led me to the mansion, where he put me on strict bed rest. During the night, he stayed awake while I slept so he could keep an eye on me and make sure I didn't have any nightmares. During the day, he slept for a few hours while I stayed beside him, Saphira and Payne bringing us food during the times he was asleep. Without him knowing since I told Saphira and Nari that it was our little secret, I created a dragon suit for the kitten to wear. It didn't have any color to it yet, just sharp horns at the top of the hood, claws at all four of the paws, and a spike at the end of the tail. Saphira added the color with her Magic so that the scales were electric blue and the horns, claws, and spikes were gold. The first time since we had saved I got to see her smile, even if it was a shy one. I lightly scratched her behind the ears and watched as she involuntarily closed her eyes blissfully, her smile getting even wider.

"How did you do that?" Saphira asked me, wonder shining in her eyes.

"It's a trick I learned with Tyger," I explained. "She would usually have one foot tapping the ground whenever I did it. I tried it out on other Exceeds and it seemed to work."

"That's so cool," she said reverently before trying it out herself. Nari closed her eyes again when Saphira did it, then batted her sharp claws at her playfully.

"No more!" the little kitten said with a mock stern look, her eyes silver in her amusement.

It had been about four days since I had been stuck at home and I was in desperate need to get out of there. After the first attempt to escape on Natsu's watch, he went into town and bought me a bracelet with bells attached. The next night I tried to escape, I had figured out during the day how to escape without a single bell ringing, only to have him secretly awake to catch me. The next day he went to get three more bracelets with bells attached, one for my other wrist and two for my ankles. It made it significantly harder to sneak off and I had to plot another way to get out of there. The sixth night I did the unexpected, which was something Natsu couldn't plan for. Before he could stop me, I had the window open and jumped through it, landing on the ground lightly and taking off as fast as I could to the forest.

"Timara, get back here!" he yelled, most likely waking the entire houseful of occupants before jumping out of the window after me.

Ty, who had been on my shoulder the entire time, said, "You do know he's going to be super angry when he catches you, right?"

"Oh, very much so," I told her with a grin, tearing off all four of the bracelets as I went. I hated those things so much that I wanted to throw them away the moment Natsu bought them. I jumped into the tree branches when I heard him getting closer, hiding in the shadows as he appeared with a furious expression on his face.

When he caught sight of me grinning like a fool where I knew he couldn't get me, he yelled, "Get down here right now!"

"Are you crazy? I see how mad you are right now! I'm not going anywhere _near_ you!"

With another laugh, I jumped from branch to branch further into the forest as he ran on the ground after me. I saw with uncertainty as I stopped in front of the burned colony that there was a figure standing in the middle of it and that was the only reason why I jumped down to the ground. Natsu grabbed me the moment my feet touched the grass and nearly dragged me away when I pointed to the figure. He stopped and set me down as he froze, watching the figure there just like I had.

"Maybe that's the person who burned the place to the ground and killed the Exceeds that lived here," he said quietly. "I want you to stay here."

"Have you lost your mind?" I asked him incredulously. "I'm not staying anywhere because I fully intend on going with you. I have a plan anyway."

I whispered in his ear what we'd do before leaping into the shadows and moving along until I came up beside the figure. It was the woman in the long cloak that I had seen during the tournament. She was looking at the damage here with a look of absolute horror so I knew that she wasn't the one to do this. Still, I wanted to find out who she was and why she was hanging around here. I jumped out of the shadows and made her jump away from me as she screamed.

"Stay back!" she shrieked and I could feel the terror rolling off of her. "Get away from me!"

Her voice was so familiar but I couldn't place where I had heard it before, but it didn't matter much as she turned around and took off running. When she reached the edge of the burned part of the forest, Natsu jumped out and grabbed her. She screamed again, struggling the best she could until Natsu told her to stop, which is when she froze. She looked up at him in awe, shaking a bit at the sight of him.

"So, it's you," she whispered. "It's good to see you alive after so long." After those words, she reached her left hand out to grab the hood, then pull it backwards to reveal her identity, which made me gasp in surprise.

It was Lucy, I thought to myself. It was Lucy the entire time and we didn't even realize it. That was when the confusion set in for us both. It couldn't be Lucy because I had seen her talking with Yukino before I saw the figure in the black cloak, so I knew that something was very wrong with this image. I took a step closer and she squeaked in fear, hiding behind Natsu and shaking even more.

"Why do you look like Lucy?" I growled, letting her hear my anger. "Who are you really?"

"I am Lucy Heartfilia, daughter of Layla and Jude Heartfilia," she said quietly. "I was once a Celestial Spirit Wizard until… Until…"

She kept pausing on the last word, looking so exhausted that she fainted right on the spot. Natsu was forced to catch her before she hit the ground and I barely even noticed as I mulled this latest turn of events over in my head. Without either of us saying a word right away, Natsu threw her over his shoulder and we walked side-by-side away from the destroyed colony towards the mansion. The silence carried on for the longest time until I couldn't take it anymore.

"There's something that bothers me greatly about all this," I said to him as we walked, Natsu looking over at me as I spoke. "If this woman truly is Lucy Heartfilia, she said she _was_ a Celestial Spirit Wizard. That's past tense. In what universe is that possible?"

"I don't know that either," he told me. "We'll just have to talk with her about it and find out."

"She's not going to talk with me in the room. This Lucy is deathly afraid of me for some reason. If she talks at all, it will be just with you alone."

"I can tell that you don't like that idea," he said tiredly. "You don't want me alone with her at all."

"If it means we find out what's going on, then I'll deal with it. Don't worry about me. I'll stay outside the door and barge in the first moment she tries anything."

"I wouldn't let her in the first place," he said with a smile, brushing his fingertips along my jaw before letting his hand drop down to his side. Ty hissed in embarrassment before settling down on my shoulder to relax.

When we arrived back at the mansion, we decided that he might as well talk with her in the library that doubled as an office and I sat down with my back against the door while I listened to him set this woman who called herself Lucy down on one of the couches. The sound of a chair being dragged against the floor before stopping in front of the couch was heard and I waited patiently. I tried coming up with different reasons as to how this could have happened, but not one of them explained it. I was still just as confused as ever.

"Still there?" Natsu whispered, quiet enough so that only I could hear him.

"Yes," I breathed, brushing my fingernails against the door slightly.

"Have you come up with any ideas?"

"None that fit."

"We'll find out soon enough," he said quietly. "I think I can hear her waking."

Just like he said, I could hear little groans and sniffling noises as the woman slowly came to. There was a rustling noise as she sat up, then a gasp of shock as she caught sight of Natsu. I could practically hear her heart thumping rapidly against her ribcage but then it slowly decreased as she calmed down. She took a few deep breaths before sitting forward on the couch.

"Where is your wife?" she asked quietly and I could hear her move a bit, so she must have been looking around the room for me.

"I told her that it probably wouldn't be a good idea if she was here while we talked," Natsu said as he sat back in his chair. "You seemed quite scared of her. Why is that?"

"I have my reasons," she said simply.

When she refused to say anything more, Natsu asked, "So who are you really? Are you using Transformation Magic right now?"

"Honestly, I wish I was. It would mean that I would have a normal life at least. Sadly, what I told you was true. I am Lucy, but not your Lucy."

"How is that even possible?" he asked incredulously. "This all sounds like a false story."

"I wish that was true as well, that I am telling you a great elaborate lie but unfortunately I'm not," she whispered. "I'm here for a reason. You might not believe this, but I'm from the future."

It barely even registered as I stood up and kicked the door open, startling the so-called future Lucy enough that she scrambled to her feet. I must have looked like an avenging angel about to exact punishment on someone because she acted like she might scream or pass out in fear, so I kept my hands up in a nonthreatening way to show her that I meant her no harm. I gave her a pleading look as I sat down beside Natsu and curled my legs under me, finally getting the point across that I wasn't to be feared for no reason.

"If you're from the future," I said in a gentle voice as Natsu stroked my hair lightly, "how did you manage to get here in the first place?"

"In your capitol city of Crocus, somewhere within the castle itself, lies a large door known as the Eclipse Gate," future Lucy explained. "When the sun and moon intersect, it can allow for people to travel through time. When it opened in my time, I snuck in and jumped through the gate to your time."

"So why are you here then?" Natsu asked roughly. "It seems like an awful lot of trouble just to travel through time."

"I came here to put an end to very bleak future," she said sadly, looking down at the floor with tears in her eyes. "In my time, ten thousand Dragons wreak havoc upon the world. They destroy just about everything and nothing can defeat them."

"Where are the Dragon Slayers?" I asked curiously. "Are you telling me that none of us could put a dent in their numbers?"

"It would be possible if every Dragon Slayer except for two weren't dead," Lucy whispered, a wild light beginning to blaze in her eyes. "Not only that, but every Legal Guild was crushed and annihilated, mostly for revenge."

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked. "Are you saying that Fairy Tail is gone in the future? Are we dead in your time?"

"You are," future Lucy said, the tears flowing even more as her voice rose with her bitterness, "but she isn't. She's one of the two that lives. And she is the reason why Fairy Tail was destroyed."

"What?!" Natsu and I both yelled and I felt the blood rush from my face.

Before I could even allow myself to think about what she had just said, she immediately launched herself into the story as if she had been waiting forever to tell it. "In one year's time, I'll go out on a job. This job is a long one and it means I'll be gone for at least three days or more. I head back to Magnolia and pop the hill, only to see that the entire town had been totally destroyed in what looked like a bomb explosion."

She looked absolutely horrified as she went on, shifting the point of view so that she might have been reliving it again, completely stuck in her own head as she told her story. "There were bodies lying everywhere and they looked blackened as if there had been an intense fire, but none of them were charred or burned. The further in I went, the more gruesome the deaths were. As I got closer to where the Fairy Tail building used to be located, I could hear this… insane laughter, as if someone's mind had just shattered in the destruction. When I finally found what was left of Fairy Tail, I could see Timara standing in the middle of the rubble, a perfect circle that had been untouched by the explosion. But she was different now. What skin was showing was deathly pale, as if there wasn't any blood left in her body. Her hair was so white that it could be defined as colorless, straight and spiky down her back as she hunched over. She was laughing so brokenly that I gasped, which made her turn around to face me. She had a wide grin on her face that terrified me and her eyes were blood red. In her arms were the remains of Tyger, who looked to have died somewhere else since her body wasn't like the others. I knew right then and there that she was the one who killed my friends, even her own family. I turned and ran, never looking back once since then..."

I was completely mortified at her words, shaking severely as she told her story and then hunched over when she sobbed inconsolably. I felt my own tears slide down my face as I thought back to what the demon had told me, what she had shown me. I was going to turn into a monster one day, destroying everything and everyone I cared about. It sounded like I even killed Ty and that broke my heart. Just when it seemed like all hope was lost and that the demon was right, Natsu grabbed me by the chin and tilted my head back so I could look up at him. His dark eyes burned unwaveringly, almost like the fire he used sparked there as well.

"Listen to me, Timara," he said to me, sounding calmer than he looked. "It's not going to happen. I won't _let_ it. I swear to you on my life that I will make sure this never happens to you."

"You can't make that promise if I'm the one that kills you!" I yelled over future Lucy's cries, feeling very sick as I thought about the repercussions. "Oh no, this means I kill our daughter, too!"

I wasn't sure how he managed it, but he dragged me upwards just enough so that he could hug me tightly. "I can make that promise. I won't just stand by and let this happen. Not only that, but you wouldn't lay a hand on our daughter like that. I know you."

When morning came around, it was decided by future Lucy that she needed to leave soon and took off before we could stop her. I knew she didn't want to be anywhere near me after what she had been through and I understood completely. Hell, _I_ didn't even want to be around me either. A bit later in the day, Erza showed up to tell us both that an invitation from the king of Fiore had arrived. He was holding a large party and asked that two representatives from each Legal Guild would arrive in two days' time. Unfortunately for us, we were the ones that Makarov chose since he figured I was getting a form of cabin fever and would want to get out of the house. We were given train tickets for the fastest train made and both of us cringed. We packed clothes for the party since it was most likely going to have a ball at some point, Natsu grumbling the entire time about how he refused to dance. I pleasantly informed him that if he wanted to live throughout the night if there really was a ball, he would dance regardless of if he wanted to or not. He looked a bit pale at my words but the complaining at least stopped.

We headed for the train station after giving strict instructions to Zeref and Mavis that my daughter needed to be watched out for while we were gone. When we finally got there, Ty pointed out that Rogue and Sting, although not looking very happy, were their guild's representatives. I didn't know why Sting was complaining though since he was the Guild Master. Just like the last time we went on a train, I had to drag Natsu into the train car since he looked like he might bolt at any second. Once inside and under the watchful eye of Tyger and Happy, I had to repeat the process again with Sting and Rogue, who gave the train a scornful look and refused to budge. I grabbed them by the wrists and pulled as hard as I could, making it past the door where they wedged themselves in so I needed the help of Frosch and Lector. I pulled harder and they finally fell into the car while the door slammed shut. Since it was a royal train, this car was like a huge room decked out in gold and jade decorations. I sat on the couch where Natsu was lying, watching as he moved closer to me to lay his head on my lap.

The train moved with a shudder before beginning to pick up speed rapidly, faster than the regular trains and making our motion sickness much worse. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," I groaned in agony as I leaned back against the back of the couch.

"Never doing this again," Natsu whined. "Just knock me out now."

"We haven't been on the train that long, so I think you can live," I told him.

What was probably a day trip by train only lasted for six hours, though we were extremely sick for every single one. All of us looked fit to pass out at any second and we were all looking forward for that opportunity. It was a haze of anguish and we all managed to fall asleep. Just before I closed my eyes, I thought I could see deep darkness seeping under the doorway from the car in front of us and then solidify into the corner. My eyes drifted closed just as I saw glowing red eyes and a bright white teeth bared into a grin.

When a loud whistle went off, signaling the train pulling into the station at Crocus, I opened my eyes and the shadows in the corner were now gone. I guessed that I had been delirious by the time I fell asleep and thought nothing more about it until we left the train. There was a scream and we tried to run back to the train itself when we were stopped by a few knights. They said that the second to last train had been attacked without anyone knowing, every one of the occupants murdered violently. That was all they allowed us to know before shooing us away. We wanted nothing more than to make our way to the castle where we could sleep off our terrible train ride and so arrived at the castle in record time. We were shown to our rooms first thing and allowed to sleep off the motion sickness that still bothered us.

* * *

"So, I've heard the news," a terrible familiar voice said as I opened my eyes quickly, seeing the demon with the red eyes appear before me in the sea of white of my nightmare. "You were sent away to Crocus. How convenient…"

"How did you…?" I started to say when it finally dawned on me. "It was you. You were really there! You were in those shadows! And that means—" I tried to finish my accusation when the demon cut me off.

"That I killed all those poor innocent people in the car before yours?" the demon asked, feigning innocence in a twisted way. "Of course, I did. I was so bored waiting for you all to wake up that I just had to do something to keep myself entertained. You can't expect me to be bored for the rest of the train ride."

"So you thought it was a good idea to kill those people?!" I shrieked, about to take off running towards her when she waved a clawed hand to dismiss my words.

"You should be thanking me," the demon said. "My first plan was to take out the conductor and engineer, then find a way to derail the train just to watch the fear in everyone's eyes when they realized that their time was up. Instead, all I did was kill a few people. I do believe that the saying is 'the lives of the many are more valuable than the lives of the few,' is it not?"

"You're sick," I growled. "I ought to kill you where you stand."

"I'd like to see you try," the demon growled back, moving faster than a blur to put our faces just inches away so that her now colorless eyes were level with mine. She was the same exact height as me but I stopped paying attention to that within seconds.

"Why don't you show me your true form?" I asked angrily. "Or are you just too much of a coward?"

The demon snarled at me as she bared her fangs in fury, then let it shift into an evil grin. "All in due time, Timara, all in due time. I'll show you my true form when I see fit. Then you'll keep your mouth shut."

She dragged me over to another hole where we dropped down into it, but I refused to look this time. I didn't want to see anything more about my supposed future because I had heard enough. The demon grabbed me by the throat and squeezed tightly until I gave her what she wanted, which was me opening my eyes. When I did, I went numb as I felt beyond shocked.

It was what was left of Magnolia, ashes floating down from clouds and everything tinged red from flames or blood. Bodies near the edges of the destruction weren't nearly as desecrated as the ones closer to where the guild hall used to stand. I could see the form of future Lucy walking further in, looking horrified as she walked carefully past the rubble and she approached a hunched over figure where Fairy Tail used to be. This figure had long white hair that was almost colorless and looked as pale as a ghost. When Lucy got to close, the figure stood up straight and turned around with a broken laugh, making me cover my mouth with my hands in horror.

"And there is the queen of the new world herself," the demon said gleefully, her eyes turning red as she grinned when I caught sight of the future version of me that the Lucy from the future talked about. "All hail the Shadow Queen, Timara!"

* * *

I gasped as I sat upright in the massive bed that I shared with Natsu, startling him awake. I caught sight of a humanoid shadow standing at the foot of my bed, sharp white teeth glinting in the moonlight as those colorless eyes gazed at me in fury. The darkness poured off of it as Natsu finally saw what I was staring at in horror, pulling me closer to his body as he let out a chilling growl. The demon's grin widened as the colorless eyes flashed red in her demented amusement, then seemed to just disappear in the blink of an eye.


	9. Feral Shadows

**Hello! Thank you to everyone who has read the story this far! You're all awesome! So, I decided with this chapter that it will be light and happy for most of it. Until the end, of course. All hell soon breaks loose. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Feral Shadows**

I was out of bed after the shock wore off, standing at the foot of the bed myself and looking around the room for the demon. I ran into the conjoining room, which was the living area, and searched for any sign of the darkness I couldn't touch. Still I couldn't find where the demon went and knew that it was finally gone. I sank to my knees on the carpet, the adrenaline wearing off and just making me very tired. After my heart stopped pounding against my ribcage, I walked back into the bedroom where Natsu was waiting, a look of outrage on his face.

"That was the demon you talked about," he said, his eyes blazing in fury. "The demon that's been terrorizing you in your nightmares."

"The very same," I said quietly as I walked over to the window to check if the demon was hiding somewhere out there.

"You know what this means, right?" he asked.

"Of course I do," I whispered, resting my forehead against the cool glass, my breath fanning out on the windowpane and making it fog up a bit. "I've been figuring out more and more about the demon with every nightmare. I know that the only way she can get in my dreams is if she's in the same room as me. She hates Rogue, although why that is I haven't figured out yet. I know that she's not really a demon either, but someone who has adopted the demon persona to cover her real identity. She's a murderer, too, just for sport."

"There's something we haven't considered," he said and I heard the blankets rustle as he got out of bed. I heard his footsteps get closer until he was right behind me, wrapping his arms around me from behind and pulling me back to lean against him.

"We?" I asked sarcastically, trying to get a reaction out of him.

"Yes, we," he said flatly. "We're married and mated, which means we're a team. We have to stick together with things like this."

I felt a wave of guilt rush through me as I remembered keeping my secret from him, tears welling up and threatening to spill over when I forced myself to calm down. I sighed and leaned my head back against his chest as he placed his chin lightly on the top of my head. "So, what is it exactly that you say we haven't considered?"

"We know that the woman we found last night was a Lucy from the future, right?" he said and I nodded slowly to acknowledge his words. "Well… what if more people from the future came through the Eclipse Gate after her?"

I froze instantly as I heard the ramifications in his words. More people from a terrible future, hardened and cold by the attacks of thousands of Dragons running rampant throughout the land. As I thought about it, I remembered Lucy's words about how the future version of me snapped and killed everyone from Fairy Tail except for the Celestial Spirit Wizard. What if this demon… is the future version of me?

I whipped around to face Natsu, about to start crying when I had my suspicions about the identity of the demon and he quickly covered my mouth with his hand. "Don't say anything just yet," he said quietly. "I know what you're thinking and you don't know for sure if it's you from the future. It could be someone else with Shadow Magic trying to impersonate you and freak people out. Just wait until we have evidence that proves it."

"Mara, don't freak out over something you don't know is true yet," Ty said calmly, giving me a smile that I knew was meant to comfort me.

"Come on, let's just get some sleep," Natsu said as he pulled me towards the bed. "We can discuss it in the morning."

As we curled up under the blankets, I shivered a little from exhaustion and turned over to bury my face in his chest while he hugged me to him, stroking my hair lightly before we all fell asleep. No one even stirred when the night darkened before dawn and the shadows grew in the room. Like a fog rolling in, the shadows thickened like the huge wall of darkness in the forest. As it shivered like water, out stepped the demon again, eyes colorless as it watched them all sleep. She assessed them like a predator would, her pupils turning to slits like a cat's eye for a split second before shifting back. Soundlessly, she moved forward until she spotted the bundle of tiger colored fur sleeping next to the blue cat and froze. Her head tilted to the side in confusion, a demented expression akin to longing plainly on her face, a yearning not for the cat itself but for the feelings the demon should have had while looking upon the Exceed. Her expression then hardened when she looked back up.

"Such a smart Dragon Slayer," the demon's whisper was lighter than the wind. "Too bad I have to kill their informant." As if her last sentence was funny, she revealed those sharp teeth of hers in a grin while her eyes went red, treading back into the darkness where it rolled away and slid under a crack in the window to head outside.

We woke late in the morning to loud knocking and I crawled out of bed with a growl. I was still growling and grumbling to myself as I made my way to the door, sensing the Magic from my brother and his Guild Master. I threw open the door and it hit the wall with a thump, so I glared at the two of them as they took a step backwards in trepidation.

"What do you want so early?" I growled at them.

"Listen here, sister, it's not early at all," Rogue groaned. "Besides, the other representatives from the other Legal Guilds showed up and we have an audience with the royal family in an hour. Time to wake up."

"Tell the king I'm sleeping in," I said as I rolled my eyes, turning around and walking away from the door.

Rogue and Sting seemed confused as I left the door open, so Sting yelled, "Just get ready for the audience! Wear something that like that uniform you created a few years back so you don't look disrespectful wearing training clothes. And don't forget to brush your hair because it looks like a rat's nest!"

I whipped around, snapping my fingers and watching as shadows congealed into the form of a thick bandage that I smacked over his mouth. "I just woke up," I growled. "Shut your face because it is too early for me to listen to your babbling."

Rogue grinned at me while Sting mumbled something nasty past the bandage. "You do know he's a Guild Master, right? He could beat you for this."

"I'd like to see him try," I sighed in annoyance as I left the room, slamming the bedroom door once I was inside and startling everyone awake.

"Whatsamatter?" I heard Natsu mumble sleepily, his words slurring as he rubbed his eyes.

"Rogue and Sting were banging on the door and told us that we need to wake up because all the representatives have an audience with the royal family in an hour," I told him as I brushed out my long hair with my fingers for now until I could brush it. "And apparently I'm not allowed to wear just a tank top and shorts to this audience. I have to wear my uniform."

"Did you pack it?" he asked as he slowly woke up.

"Actually, I'm wearing it right now," I said.

As he turned his head in my direction and seeming very confused, I snapped my fingers as the clothing shuddered, moving what looked to be black scales as they slid into place all over my body. Now as the scales stopped moving, it showed off a full body suit that covered me from fingertips to toes, stopping at my neck where a hood hung down from my shoulders. On the back between my shoulder blades was the royal blue mark of Fairy Tail, one that showed up on the suit just like it did on my skin. At the tips of my fingers were long Dragon like talons that were razor sharp and lethal, Natsu shaking his head the entire time.

"Sure can't tell you're a Dragon Slayer," he said under his breath. "You know, people could mistake that as Requip Magic if you do that in front of others."

"No way, it's just an extension of my Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic," I huffed as I pulled a brush from my shadow and brushed my waist length hair, dropping it back where it came from when I was done with it.

"Which you aren't supposed to be using unless in a dire situation!" he yelled after me as I ran into the bathroom to look in the mirror. Using my Magic some more, I traced my eyelids with my fingertip and left black lines there like eyeliner. My veins burned for a few seconds before finally fading, thankfully no nosebleed forming.

"I'm pretty sure meeting the royal family counts as dire!" I yelled back before walking into the room. Thankfully, he was already dressed, a different waistcoat on this time for the meeting, this one tucked in, zipped close, and had only one sleeve on his left arm that kept his right arm exposed. He tied on his scarf around the open collar and I ran over to help him a bit when it looked like he was struggling. "Can't do anything without my help…" I sight in mock frustration, grinning up at him when he scowled.

I picked up Tyger, who looked like she was trying to fake sleeping still, and placed her up on my shoulder where she stopped her charade to sit up and look alert. Happy walked beside Natsu as we heading out in the living area where Rogue, Sting, and their partners all waited rather impatiently for us. They mumbled something under their breath that sounded like an insult and we all headed out of the room together, walking down the hallway where we planned to get food quickly before meeting with the royal family. I grabbed a handful of bacon while everyone else had a plateful of food and we milled around until all the food was gone, except for me since I grabbed another handful to snack on while on the way inside the palace Mercurius. I tore of pieces and fed it to Ty, who purred happily whenever she grabbed a piece.

"You're going to finish eating that before we get to the throne room, right?" Sting asked. "We are having an audience with the king and his daughter, along with the knights that guard them. I'm pretty sure it would be considered too impolite to eat like that while they aren't."

"Not really my problem, but you can have some if you'd like!" I told him with a smile, handing him a piece.

He sighed and took it, which led to everyone else taking some as well to eat all the bacon so I wouldn't eat what was left during the audience. I was greatly disappointed when it was all gone but no one seemed to notice as we approached the throne room, which the hallway outside of it was filled with wizards from different guilds. There was Lyon and Jura from Lamia Scale, Hibiki and Eve from Blue Pegasus, Thibault and Ginger from Twilight Ogre, Bacchus and Rocker from Quatro Cerberus, Kagura and Millianna from Mermaid Heel, and then a bunch of others from less known guilds. Kagura turned around when Millianna pointed out our presence, her eyes landing on Sting and she smirked knowingly before looking away. I turned to look at the White Dragon Slayer, who had a distant grin on his face, and laughed a little.

He turned toward me suspiciously as I said, "So… Kagura, huh? Anything you would like to say now before I'm forced to sneak around to find the answers I want like I did to Rogue?"

"No need," he told me, his grin getting wider. "I know you'd enjoy the sneaking part too much, then I'd have to kill you for it if you caught me doing something and you'd run to Natsu. Might as well say what happened before it occurs. Kagura and I had a fling a couple times. That's it and nothing else."

I smiled over at Rogue, who was noticeably avoiding my gaze on purpose. "See, if he could tell me what happened between a girl, you should be able to as well instead of LYING ABOUT IT!"

"SHUT UP, TIMARA!" he yelled at me and by that time everyone had shifted their gaze to us.

He really looked as if he wanted to strangle me now, which was exactly why I moved over to Natsu's other side with an evil grin, putting distance between me and my brother. "I see what you're doing," Natsu said with a sigh. "Nice try, but you're on your own if he comes after you again. I'm not getting in between yet another sibling fight."

"There go those Shadow Dragon Slayers again!" I heard Kagura yell to Sting. "It's probably a good thing that you only have the male one in your guild and not both, right, Sting?"

"Well, I could have mated with the female one instead of Natsu snatching her up and then we'd all be one happy family!"

"I suggest you never say that again, regardless of if you're in my presence or not," Natsu growled, looking thoroughly tempted to throw a fireball at his head when the large doors leading to the throne room opened up and everyone began to filter in.

Then, before the king and his daughter came in, we were told to sit in places ordered by strongest to weakest guild, the left side being stronger and the right weaker. Natsu and I were to the far left since Fairy Tail was the strongest guild in Fiore while Sting and Rogue sat directly to my right, but I couldn't really see where all the larger guilds were placed next to us. There was a sound of an instrument playing to announce that the king and his daughter were approaching.

"All rise for the king and the princess!" called out a knight. I saw a short older man with extravagant clothes and a crown upon his head start to walk inside and we all bowed respectfully until we heard two people sit on the thrones before us.

"Please sit down," the king said and we all did as we were told.

I looked up and saw the daughter I had heard about earlier. Sitting beside him was a young woman, Princess Hisui. She had long jade colored hair and eyes, a jeweled tiara on her head that was golden with a large ruby adorning it. She had a green dress on and I had a feeling that it was her favorite color. She even looked as regal as her father and I forced myself not to grin.

"I wished to bring you all here while things were peaceful," King Toma said. "Since it seemed like a bad idea to invite every member of every Legal Guild, I asked that representatives be sent for this purpose. I wanted to hold a ball in the honor of all wizards. I also wanted nothing more than to thank you for your service to our country. Without some of you, I have no doubt that Fiore would have been destroyed." The king looked over at Natsu and me, so I knew that he was thinking about how we stopped Etherion and Acnologia.

As the king carried on speaking for about half an hour, I kept catching the princess looking over at us. I didn't think much of it since she probably wanted to watch the two wizards who performed strong feats of Magic together. After King Toma nodded his head to show that he was done speaking, he signaled for both Natsu and me to move before them. I carried Ty over as we kneeled before the two nobles, the door behind us swinging closed as everyone else left. The king smiled down at us while his daughter remained stoic.

"I've heard about the two of you, Natsu and Timara Dragneel," King Toma said. "I asked especially for the two of you to be the representatives for Fairy Tail."

"And here I thought it was because our Guild Master wanted us to get out of the house before we got cabin fever, your majesty," I said with a grin.

The king grinned and said, "I'm afraid not, young lady. So, is it true what they say about you both? That one of you absorbed Etherion so it didn't kill the rest of Fairy Tail and Black Eclipse while the other fought and defeated Acnologia?"

"I fought the Dragon while she did the rest," Natsu said, then I elbowed him in the ribs to make him remember his manners. With a start, he bowed his head quickly before adding, "Your majesty."

"Please, no need to use all the formalities right now," he said quietly.

"Father, you really can't ask that. It seems wrong," Princess Hisui told him.

"Hush now, Hisui," the king told her kindly. "Now, please go get ready for the grand party we have in store for tonight!"

The king practically waltzed out of the room without his daughter and she gazed down at us sternly before breaking out in a shy smile. "Please forgive my father. When he thinks he needs to act like a normal king, he gets all stuffy like now. Wait until he gets really excited, then he goes around saying the word 'kabo' after almost every sentence."

"Personally, princess, I didn't see him the way you say," I told her respectfully. "If that's what you call formal, then I can't wait to see what he's like when he's animated."

"Trust me, you don't," Hisui said, her smile losing her shyness as she stood up, beckoning for us to do the same. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with a new acquaintance of mine. Please, enjoy your stay and the party later as well."

As we started to walk over to the door where two knights opened it for us, I whispered to Natsu quiet enough so that only he could hear me. "Who do you think this acquaintance is?"

"I don't know," he whispered back, "but you're not going to spy on them."

"So says you," I said with a grin as we walked past the doors.

When no one was looking, I placed my hand on the door, about to use my Magic to move the shadows long enough to see what was going on when Natsu grabbed me and pulled me away. "Don't even _think_ about it," he told me, keeping a tight grip on my hand as he dragged me down the hallway. "Spying on the princess will most likely lead to jail time and we've already had enough of that to last a lifetime!"

"But Natsu, how are we going to figure out who that person is?" I said, whining a little to emphasize my point. "What if she's meeting with the person who is really the demon?!"

"I very much doubt that they'd let a raving lunatic meet with the princess," Natsu said flatly.

The rest of the day was spent wandering about Mercurius together so Natsu could keep me distracted from thoughts of Hisui and her meeting. Closer to sunset, I saw a strange person watching me rather intently as we passed and I wondered if it was maybe him that met with her. This man had long gray hair in a high ponytail while a large fringe of shorter hair that covered his right eye was black. The one eye that showed was red with a black slit for a pupil, looking so familiar to me that I would have thought it could have belonged to Rogue. He had a jagged scar on the bridge of his nose that extended further past his long bangs and then a strange black tattoo around his left eye that was sharp and curved. His clothing was strange to me, almost foreign even as it had different patterns all over the vest he wore and he even had on a long cape with tiger print along the very edges. The shirt underneath the vest and his pants were the only part about him that seemed normal. As I passed by him with Natsu and looked his way, he gave me a smirk that looked as if he was amused by something even though his eyes were emotionless and dead. When we were about to round a corner, I happened to look back to him when I felt a chill run down my spine, only to discover that the man was now gone. Later, after I had been led back to our room, I had an argument with Natsu over the fact that he would have to wear fancy clothes for the party. He insisted that the clothing he had on now would be suitable while I informed him that I would refuse to let him out of the door without changing.

"You know I'm going to let you keep the scarf on!" I yelled at him, placing my hands on my hips and glaring fiercely at him. "You aren't going to wear normal clothes to this sort of party when it's being held by royalty!"

"I think you're just still angry at me about not letting you spy on the princess earlier!" he shouted back. "I don't think this has anything to do with me changing at all!"

"It has _everything_ to do with the fact that you have to change clothes!" I growled and he finally figured out not to argue further, taking a step backwards and giving me a sheepish smile.

"Ok, fine. I'll change."

That was how I successfully forced him into doing as I said and changing into dark pants, dark vest, and a white long sleeved buttoned shirt underneath. I tied the scarf back around his neck with a satisfied grin before heading into the bathroom to change clothes myself. I didn't particularly care for having to dress up like this either but I at least came prepared. I let the scaly suit transform into a long halter blue black dress that flowed down to my ankles, diamonds adorning the strap around my neck and a gold ribbon that tied around the waist. There was a slit in the dress that stopped just above my left knee and it made it perfect if I ever needed to run for some reason. I also had on gladiator styled boots that I absolutely loved. I formed a clip from the shadows, twisting my long hair a bit and then clipping it together at the back of my skull, some of the long hair draping down over the clip and brushing my shoulders. I adjusted the bangs and hair framing my face then walked out of the bathroom entirely, where two cats and a stunned Fire Dragon Slayer waited. He stood up, walked over to me slowly, then kissed me entirely too quick for my liking before we left the room for the party.

It was discovered later that this was to be a masquerade ball and that masks would be provided if we were so inclined to use them. I, of course, created one of my own with the shadows. It had blue black scales and then silver around the eyes and the edges of the mask. Natsu created one for himself as well, electric blue crystals with red markings around it just like the scales of his Dragon form. When we arrived outside the ballroom, the servants smiled at Ty and Happy before giving one to the both of them. Ty's was a sparkly royal blue mask with gold around the edges and Happy's was red with silver fish swimming on it. They flew off somewhere together as I looped my arm through Natsu's before we walked into the room.

Once inside, we could hear music being played by a group of musicians as a large mass of people danced out on the floor. Poor Natsu didn't look too happy to be here at all, seeming about to bolt altogether when I saw Rogue and Sting standing as far away from the dancing as they could get. Taking pity on the poor man beside me, I led him over to where they were standing and watching the others dance. I didn't see either Frosch or Lector, so they must have scrambled after Ty and Happy once they caught sight of them. Sting was wearing something similar to what Natsu wore, only with a blue long sleeved shirt instead. Rogue just had a fancy red long sleeved shirt with a black tie, dark pants with red markings on the sides as well. I was surprised that he hadn't found a way to sneak his cape in here with him. Sting's mask was white and plain as could be and Rogue looked like he took a page from my book, forming his own mask from the shadows that was black and red.

"No dancing for either of you, huh?" I said with a grin as we walked up to them.

"Sting said he might if Kagura asks him to," Rogue said. "I refuse to dance though. It's not my thing."

"I bet you would if Yukino were here to dance with you," I said deviously, laughing a little at the glare he shot at me.

"Why can't you just let that go?" he asked while sighing.

"The moment you admit that you like Yukino will be the moment I let it go," I told him sweetly. "Now, unless you tell me what I want to hear, I swear I'll drag you out there and dance with you until I get what I want."

He seemed to shudder a bit at the thought, which only made me smile, and said, "Fine, I really like Yukino. There, are you happy now?"

"Extremely happy, actually," I said to him.

It was a few seconds later that I saw Kagura appear, giving us all a respectful nod before dragging Sting away. All I saw before they disappeared in the crowd was that she was wearing a long purple dress that sparkled and her mask matched it well. They passed by this woman in an all-white sleeveless dress, her white hair clipped up in a different style than mine and a black mask that was so dark that it didn't reveal the color of her eyes. With zero expression, she seemed to just fade away into the crowd without a second look. A bunch of men turned their heads as she passed and then went back to dancing.

As if sensing my next move, Natsu tried to sneak off before I noticed, but I caught him by the arm and dragged him after me. I lost sight of Rogue as we went further into the crowd of dancers. Poor Natsu seemed a bit nervous for some reason and I had to stifle my laughter, but I grabbed one of his hands as he wrapped his free arm around my waist. As I rested my other hand on the arm around me, we slowly began to dance and I was impressed.

"Now, if I'm correct, the last time we danced was after our wedding and you were absolutely terrible at it," I told him with an amused smile. "You had a thing for stomping on my toes. Now it seems like you know what you're doing. What am I missing here?"

"A few people from our guild taught me when they remembered how horrible I was at it," he said, sounding embarrassed enough that he wouldn't look me in the eyes. "I had Erza, Lucy, and Lisanna took it upon them to take the challenge. Lucy was the only one who didn't try to make me throw up from motion sickness."

"Lucy, huh?" I asked flatly, letting my intense disapproval be heard.

"Don't get jealous on me," Natsu said with a laugh. Then, as a way to distract me, he pulled me closer and brushed his lips against the tattoo between my neck and shoulder that marked me as his mate, laughing even more when I shivered. "I like my mark on you. I think it works even better than the wedding ring to keep guys off you like back in the past."

"Pretty sure most of those guys only did things like that to make you angry on purpose," I informed him.

When the song was over, he reluctantly let me go and looked over at a table where food was placed while I happened to look the other direction at a window that led out onto a large terrace. Standing there and looking in, his gaze riveted on me, was the man I had seen earlier. He even wore a red mask for the occasion that seemed to glow with the illumination from the party. Then, with a hint of a smirk on his face, he walked away from the window and I had a feeling that he wanted me to follow. Looking up at Natsu, whose gaze was locked onto the food, I knew what I had to do next.

"You go eat some food and I'll catch up with you later," I told him, hoping to squash the edge of suspicion I could see on his face. "There's someone I have to talk with for a few minutes."

With a hesitant nod, he walked away and towards the food table as I moved my way to the veranda doors. Out there was a huge courtyard that overlooked the front lawn of Mercurius, trees lining it as far as the eye could see. I didn't see the man anywhere, which was extremely suspicious, so I walked closer towards the edge of the large balcony when I heard a hissing noise from the shadows. I felt something rush at me, pinning me to the railing, as someone grabbed me by the wrists to turn me around. It was the man who beckoned me out here and I let out a growl before he pinned my wrists together as a huge glob of a dark substance appeared around my wrists, keeping them bound together no matter how hard I tried to pull them apart. He grabbed the rubbery substance and lifted me into the air, making me hiss out a breath when my shoulders felt like they might pop out of their sockets.

"Little Timara Wyvernia," he said, his voice rough and familiar. That must have been the reason why he didn't speak when I first saw him because he figured I would guess his identity.

"It's Dragneel, not Wyvernia," I told him as I thrashed in his hold, my shoulders protesting. "You should know that since I told you were at my wedding."

"And I always hated that you changed your last name to match _his._ This must mean you've figured out who I am," the man said with a harsh chuckle. "Tell me then who I am to you."

"If a Lucy can come back from the future, then there must be others like her as well," I said. "You're the future version of my brother Rogue, one of the only two Dragon Slayers left in existence in your era."

"You were always smart and quick to figure things out, Timara," future Rogue said with a smirk.

"There are things I don't understand though," I said as I began to get angry, glaring at him fiercely and baring my fangs.

"And what would that be?" he asked, sounding bored. He then lifted me even higher, forming a shadowy hook to loop through my binds and moving it to dangle me over the side of the balcony where there was a long drop.

I let out a hiss as my shoulders began to ache even more then spoke up. "You've been following us. You showed up at my mansion and played with Frosch. You even decided to burn down a helpless colony of Exceeds. That doesn't really add up."

I watched him as his eye brows drew together in confusion, the one time he let an emotion be seen. "I played with Frosch for reasons that don't concern you. As for the colony, that wasn't my doing."

"Perhaps that's because I was the one to destroy it," I heard a voice say that was equally familiar.

Rising up from behind future Rogue in his own shadow was the demon from my nightmares, making her presence known. She reached out and gripped the back of his neck tightly, her claws digging into his skin and letting droplets of blood drip down his neck. Before my eyes, I watched as the shadows surrounding her began to slowly fade away as if being pulled by the wind until her identity was shown to me. Standing behind the future version of my brother was the woman in white I had seen earlier, the one with the white hair. She reached up to grab the clip keeping her hair in place before yanking it free, her hair flowing down her back and I realized that her hair was actually so white it could be defined as colorless. Her pale skin seemed to glow in the moonlight and reflected off now colorless eyes as she ripped the mask from her face.

"Stay still. Make one sudden move to drop her and I tear your spine out," she said in a lethal voice, looking feral as she watching him while staying unnaturally still.

"If I must," future Rogue said, his eyes straight ahead as he stayed expressionless.

She looked up at me like a predator would and said, "Glad we could finally meet face-to-face and in my regular form. It was long overdue."

I started shivering then and I knew better than to blame it entirely on my shoulders feeling like they would be ripped from me. As I looked down upon the woman in white, I took in the familiarity of her features numbly as the same thought ran through my head. This woman who was also the demon… is the future version of me.


	10. The Truth Revealed

**Hello to everyone! Thank you to everyone who has read the story so far! Now, this one has some action between our two villains. They were going to clash eventually and here is the first time they do in this era. Then, I decide to shake things up a bit again with a point of view change later on like one of the previous chapters. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 10: The Truth Revealed**

I watched them both almost distantly, a deep part of me pretending that this was all another sick nightmare to drive me insane even though I knew for a fact that it was very real. The two of them stayed motionless as they assessed each other's will and strength, so I knew deep down that a fight would soon break out between them. Future Timara's eyes lay locked onto him, most likely readying herself to make good on her threat if he made the slightest movement against me. The only movement I saw from future Rogue was from the one eye I could see, moving it to the side as if he were trying to see her out of the corner of his eye. No one spoke for the longest time and my shoulders were aching enough that I debated on cutting the silence myself when future Rogue talked.

"Hello, dear sister," he said quietly, his voice still rough and harsh even with her.

"You lost the right to be my family years ago, so I suggest you never call me that again," she said, her white eyes glowing like a cat's would in the night. She was as wild as the spirits forged by the elements and seemed like nothing could harm her.

"You're still harboring a grudge against me?" he asked, sounding darker now. "One little attempt on your life and it's suddenly a big deal. Women love to blow things out of proportion."

"Just because you lost Frosch, it doesn't give you the right to kill your friends and family," she hissed and I watched her eyes flash red for a split second, almost as if she was trying to keep the insane part of her at bay. "You hunted me down while I was on a mission with Ty and then killed us both!"

"That's funny because I do believe that you are still standing here and are quite alive," future Rogue said maliciously.

My numbness finally filtered away during their banter and a screaming headache forced its way to the front of my mind as I took in their words. Rogue tries to kill us in the future? That same question played over in my mind as the two of them went silent again. The tension of the situation increased phenomenally and made the air around us crackle as if a storm would soon break on our heads.

"How callous you are," future Timara said, her voice deathly quiet. His words must have finally gotten to her as red started to slowly bleed its way to her eyes. "You go and decide to kill Sting to devour his White Dragon Slayer Magic, just to have it as your own, then you have the nerve to act so cold about tracking me down, fighting me until I was within an inch of my life, and killing my poor Tyger?"

Smacking her hand away that was grasping his neck, he turned just as she moved to the side. He pushed up the fringe of black hair with his hand and I gasped. The scar that was on the bridge of his nose extended even further, straight over to a huge scar where his eye should have been. I didn't want to even think about how that happened or how painful that must have been, but he now seemed just as feral as she was. He bared his teeth at her in a snarl but she wouldn't back down.

"An eye for an eye," he growled. "That's how I can act that way."

I wasn't sure how it was possible, but the future Timara's expressions darkened even more and I could see how most people would refer to her as a demon. "You son of a—"

"No!" he yelled, cutting her off. "You don't get to insult me, Timara! You clawed my eye out! I should have done the same to you, but instead I tried to kill the both of you and only succeeded with your partner!"

"LIAR!" she shrieked. I thought that someone from inside the palace was sure to hear her, but no one even looked our way. The music must have been too loud to hear anything going on out here. "You found me with the intent to kill Ty on purpose! You told me exactly that on that day! You also said that killing me would be a bonus if you could actually do it! What, did you think you could just kill my Ty and get me to somehow join you?!"

"No, I did it to be the strongest Dragon Slayer ever and you were always in my way," he hissed.

With a scream full of madness and her eyes now completely red, she ran at him faster than I had ever seen, claws forming fast and she slashed his chest as he jumped backwards. He looked down at himself and saw the four bloody rends to his skin. He must have known that if he hadn't dodged her attack at all that she could have cut her way to the bone of his ribcage. Future Rogue growled angrily and a volley of what looked to be scales appeared from the shadows before they were launched at her. They all seemed to be absorbed instantly into her skin as she walked slowly closer.

"You'll have to do much better than that," she giggled crazily, showing off her sharp teeth. "I didn't wait all these years to find you for nothing."

"How _did_ you find me?" he asked her as he created a sword, shooting it at her only to have the same thing happen when it touched her stomach. She made a big show as if she had been hurt by it, only to look up at him with an evil grin as it slowly moved its way into her skin to be absorbed like the scales.

"I decided that I wanted to kill the only person left in Fairy Tail and so I stalked her," future Timara said as she rushed him, slicing his arm this time with her claws. "What I didn't plan on was that she was captured near the Abyss Palace, taken into custody there for a while before she finally escaped through the Eclipse Gate. I stayed up high in the shadows and was about to follow her through to kill her wherever she went when I saw you heading in the same direction. You went through the Eclipse Gate and I knew my chance for revenge was right before me, so I ran through the gate just before it closed. It's been seven long years, Roguey, and I plan on killing you myself for what you did to me."

"Call me that again and I'll cut your tongue out," he growled.

"I'd like to see you try," she giggled again. "Roguey, Roguey, Roguey!"

The fighting carried on even longer and I struggled to get free, trying to use my Magic to get the binds around my wrist to disappear but it kept letting off sparks of light whenever I tried. I remembered future Timara said that he devoured Sting's light after he killed him, so it explained this strange phenomenon but it didn't make me very happy. I heard a hiss of pain as she slashed him on the neck, an inch to the right would have ended his life and he knew it.

"I'm done with this," future Rogue said as he glared at his sister. "I only came here in the first place to meet with the princess and examine the Eclipse Gate thoroughly. I had no intentions of seeing either versions of my sister and especially not fighting with one of them right now. We can finish this later."

Future Timara's eyes went back to what I guessed was her normal colorless state before saying, "You can count on it. Watch your back or you might find me sticking my claws through it."

Without another word, he disappeared into the darkness, letting the shadowy hook and binds keeping my wrists together fall away. Before I could fall to the ground or even create wings for myself, she grabbed me and hoisted me over the railing before taking a few steps back. She watched me while staying inhumanly still again, her eyes glowing in the moonlight and remaining expressionless the entire time.

"This wasn't how I had planned us finally meeting," she at long last said after a long silence. With an evil smirk, she turned around and walked in the direction of the doors where the party was being held. "I was going to wait until you were finally alone, knock you unconscious, and then drag you off somewhere. Then tell you to be a good girl and say that I would kill your dear husband if you didn't behave while I introduced myself. It's a pity how these things turn out."

"How could you just kill Fairy Tail?" I blurted out. "We have so many people in our guild that care for us. We have a _family_ there and yet you just threw it all away!"

She stopped moving altogether and I knew that what I had said struck a nerve. She turned her head slowly and looked at me out of the corner of her eye, staring at me as if she could kill me where I stood with just one glance. I refused to back down to her and glared back at her, showing her that I was serious. She reached back and gathered her hair in her hand, lifting it up to uncover the section of her back that was visible from the dress dipping down low. I gasped when I saw what she was showing me. There was a huge X shaped scar that tore through what used to be her Fairy Tail mark, leaving only a few pieces of it that remained to show what it used to be.

"It's a fitting punishment, isn't it," she said, her voice quiet and deadly if I said another word. "I was stabbed through the back by my 'brother' that fateful day with a weapon I had only heard stories about and never seen for myself. It was a spear with four jagged edges that curved inward like a jaw. He made it from the shadows and it was created to cause as much internal damage as possible. I jumped in front of his attack when he tried to throw it at Tyger and I felt it almost go entirely through me, which hurt like hell. The four points stuck out of my chest and into her, regardless of the fact that I had tried to protect her. My actions were useless and I watched the light leave her eyes. After that, my back was the only part that scarred the way it did and I find it ironic since I later killed the rest of my guild."

She let her white hair fall down her back and she snapped her fingers, the mask that she had been wearing earlier reappearing in her hand. She placed it back on her face before opening the glass door and walking inside to the party, disappearing into the crowd easily. I sank to the ground as I stared at the dancers, all of them oblivious to what had happened out here and I felt sick to my stomach. The more I found out about my future, the more I didn't want for it to happen. I was to be betrayed by my own brother, fail at protecting my dearest partner, and brutally murder my family and the rest of the people I held dear at Fairy Tail. No wonder the future version of me preferred the form of the demon. Our lives kept getting harder and harder the more it went on.

I heard a noise as a door opened and looked up to see Natsu walking over to me. "I was worried when you disappeared," he said. "A woman in white told me where to find you."

"Of course she did," I sighed as I got to my feet with a little assistance. "Next time, stay away from her."

"Why?" he asked curiously.

I just shook my head, too tired to bother explaining to him that she was dangerous. I didn't know the extent of her powers but I did know that she was a perilous foe until I figured these things out. Natsu looked confused, but didn't bother questioning me about it right away. I knew that he would save it for later when we got back to our room. As we went inside, Tyger found me and told me that a woman with white hair came up to her with a strange look on her face. I didn't know what game future Timara was playing, but I knew she was up to no good.

The rest of the party seemed to drag by, but not once did I see either people from the future again that night. I saw Kagura and Sting leave together and Rogue was already gone by the time I went back inside with Natsu. I was feeling a bit on the frazzled side of the spectrum and really wanted to leave as well. Natsu was thrilled by my choice since he had wanted to leave since the first moment we walked into the ballroom. Once we made it back to our room in the palace, I paced around and checked all the windows for any sight of either future version. Natsu, Ty, and Happy sat on the bed as I did this, all of them having pulled their masks off while I forgot about mine.

"Are you going to tell us what has you so spooked?" Natsu finally spoke up, not interrupting my pacing one bit.

"We already knew that we had a future version of Lucy," I told him quietly, trying to stay calm. "But tonight I discovered that there are two more of them. I don't know think there are any more of them and that's a relief. I don't think we'd be able to handle more like them."

"So who are they?"

"There are a future version of Rogue and a future version of me," I said quietly. "Both of them are as evil as can be. They seem really crazy, one crazier than the other."

"Which one is the craziest?" Happy asked me curiously.

"Oh, that would be my future version, of course," I said with a demented grin. "Apparently after my brother fails to kill me but manages to kill Ty, I go straight back to Fairy Tail to go on a rampage that leads to everyone in Fairy Tail and Magnolia dead in a pile of rubble. That's all I know about it. I was told that I would find out everything about what happens to me soon."

"You mean she's already threatened to visit you again?" Ty finally said, speaking up for the first time since I brought up what would happen to her.

"She's fully capable to make good on her threat. She already followed me here to Crocus. She could probably follow me to the ends of the earth and not be fazed by it. She's focused on it so long as her brother doesn't appear. Then her focus shifts to killing him in the most gruesome way possible to get revenge."

"The future you sounds really scary," Happy said with a shiver. "Even scarier than Erza on her bad days."

"No kidding," I grumbled, still pacing about the room without fully realizing it. "It was not my life's goal to be scarier than her. She does that well enough already for everyone in the guild."

"We'll just have to keep watch out for her," Natsu said. "I don't want her anywhere near you, regardless of who she is in the future."

"You know she is still me, right?" I said quietly.

"I don't care. She isn't the same person as you are anymore so she might as well be a separate being. You're not her and you never will be."

His words made me feel better and I sighed, knowing that he was right deep down. After that, sleep seemed to just roll over us easily. I thankfully didn't have a nightmare, which meant that future me was out there trying to track down her brother through the night or doing some other nefarious act. Waking up that morning was easy as well, especially when Rogue and a smiling Sting knocked on the door. Sting seemed in too good of a mood and I knew why he was all happy, shaking my head at him when our gazes locked on each other. He was shameless, I thought to myself as we all left the room for breakfast. We talked about our night at the party, Natsu and I refusing to tell them what really happened and just said that we danced for a long time into the night. I didn't catch sight of either future Rogue or me the entire time we talked amongst each other for the rest of the day.

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**XxXxX**

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I tried my level best to search every inch of Mercurius all throughout the night, but I couldn't turn up my disowned brother anywhere. I cursed the fact that this body didn't need sleep because rest would stop my seething rage. If only I had swooped in to kill him before he ran through the Eclipse Gate after Lucy, I wouldn't be in this mess. Then I remembered the terrible things I had in store for him and it calmed my fury just enough so I could concentrate on searching some more.

Although I despised the thought of frolicking about with lowly humans, I had no choice but to do so since my cover story hinged on it. The knights that ran the place would have sensed my high level of Magic and immediately thrown me down near the Abyss Palace if I had snuck in, so I devised a wicked plan that allowed me a great deal of camouflage. Since humans in this era seemed to lack intelligence, I came up with a false identity that I was a visiting princess from the Pergrande Kingdom, an orphan so to speak, who wanted to see the world before her coronation to make her queen of the kingdom. Apparently the phrase "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck" rang true since all I had to do was walk and act like royalty to convince them that my story was no falsehood with little to no thought otherwise. Stupid humans. To them, I was Princess Obsidia, who was the first monarch in Pergrande to possess Magic. Already, I was "good friends" with Hisui of Fiore and no one seemed to sense that I had a malicious purpose in being here.

I was already having an outrageously dreadful day, stalking about the hallways while it was daylight and wearing a somewhat revealing white dress. I tried to hide away during the daytime since the sun hurt my eyes terribly but with my cover story I really couldn't do that, so I created sunglasses from shadows and put them on. It helped so no one could see the color of my eyes for they would surely freak out if they saw their normal white glow. If I let them turn red, I could get away with saying I was albino but that would mean I would act a bit too uninhibited with my murderous tendencies. As I stormed about the palace, trying to track down the scent of my "brother," I heard a nobleman with his friends yell something demeaning to me. If I were really royalty, it would be within my rights to have his head for his words. Then I realized it was still within my rights either way since I didn't care who I killed. With a flirtatious smile and a suggestive motion of my hand for him to follow, he separated himself with the rest of his pack and chased after me. I led him down a few corridors until we were in a part of the palace where no one would hear us. When I turned around, he looked as if he was about to swoop down to kiss me when I grabbed him by the throat.

"It's tragic that you picked the wrong girl to say those awful things to," I said calmly as I lifted him into the air as if he weighed nothing. I squeezed his throat tightly and he let out a squeak of fear, his eyes dilating rapidly as the adrenaline poured through his system. I sniffed the air as my eyes slid shut, enjoying the moment when an arrogant human was soon taken over by panic.

He let out another squeak as I squeezed his airway shut with a sinister laugh, opening my eyes again to see that his face was slowly turning red. "I ought to tear your throat out with my teeth. I've done that before and it was quite a thrill. However, that is a bit too messy for me right at this moment and I have my appearance to keep for now. I can't be walking around covered with blood or my cover will be blown. Guess I'll just have to do it the normal way."

I sighed in disappointment before crushing his trachea altogether and snapping his neck at the same time. I dropped his lifeless body in a heap where he had been standing previously and walked away without looking back. Oh, how I despised humans… They were filthy creatures that deserved to be wiped off the face of the earth, but I knew that I couldn't just keep killing the humans of this world forever. I had one goal in this era and that was killing off my era's Lucy and Rogue. Then I could go back to my time and bathe in the blood of other people and Dragons for as long as I so chose.

The only thing I found later in the day was the past Timara with her mate. Bitterly, I thought of how happy she seemed and began to wish I could be happy one day, too, but I pushed those thoughts aside. I would be happy when my "brother" was finally killed by my own hands and then I could rule the world in my time before I razed it to the ground. I walked around with my dark sunglasses, keeping my expressions hidden from anyone who passed me by when I caught the scent of him. I felt the madness bubble up within me like a hot spring and I let out a tiny giggle before I could suppress it.

I bounded forward, sniffing the air as I went until I was forced to skid to a halt. With a hiss, I moved into the shadows as the past version of Rogue walked past. Even though I didn't want to admit it, I had mistaken Rogue's new scent for his old one, back before he was drenched in both my blood and Sting's. I shivered in rage before jumping back out of the shadows when he finally left. I was back to feeling the way I had before killing the nobleman, furious and cranky beyond belief as I stalked about the palace. I was about ready to track down another person to kill to put the feeling at ease when I saw Princess Hisui appear. She was one of the few humans I could tolerate just enough so that I felt no desire to kill her. She ranked at Number Five on my top ten Do Not Kill List. Memories of the past forced a few individuals to the very top, regardless of how I felt in the matter now while I felt nothing.

"Hello, Obsidia!" Hisui called out to me, foregoing the false formality since we were "close" with each other.

"Hello to you, too, Hisui," I said, making sure that she couldn't see how wild I was feeling.

"Hey, what's with the sunglasses?" she asked curiously, tilting her head to the side and the sunlight glinted off her tiara.

"The sun hurts my eyes," I told her, giving her a fake smile that seemed to put humans at ease. "I think I had a bit too much to drink at the party last night."

"I looked everywhere for you last night and couldn't find you. Where did you go?"

"Oh, just went out onto the balcony for some fresh air," I told her pleasantly, feeling a chill of satisfaction as I remembered the events of the night. Poor man thought he could defeat me with his worthless Magic and I could smell his fear when he realized he couldn't touch me. "So, did you enjoy your party?"

"Yes, I did," she told me, looking a bit flustered now. "Most of the guys there danced with me but my new acquaintance didn't. I met with him earlier over something he said was important, then couldn't find him even though he promised to be there."

I knew exactly which acquaintance she was referring to. She was talking about my "brother," the man she had an audience with. The only reason I knew about that was I had this feeling that I needed to listen in on their conversation. I hid just outside the door and listened to them both talk about the Eclipse Gate. I had to bite my arm deeply to keep from either screaming in victory or charging into the room to kill him in front of the princess. I remembered seeing bone when I finally released my arm after their meeting, watching as the holes healed up rather quickly.

"What a vexing man," I said in agreement with her. "I hate to do this, but I need to head back to my chambers. I need to sleep off this hangover."

The princess laughed a little and bid me farewell as she entered a room next to us. I peeked my head inside before walking away, making sure that he wasn't hiding in there to speak with her again. I growled a little in disappointment, not fully able to be patient enough to get my revenge. With a light growl, I headed back to my rooms like I had told the princess and stayed there for the rest of the day. I vaguely lamented the fact that I couldn't sleep or hibernate in any way, so I stayed sitting on the bed and seethed in rage all the time that the sun remained in the skies.

* * *

**XxXxX**

* * *

The last couple days spent in Crocus was a blur of activity that I didn't fully remember. Ty and Happy informed me that I didn't look like I was fully with them, opting to stay within my thoughts as I searched every face for two particularly evil people from the future. None of them came into sight, so I could only hope that they had disappeared after the fight on the balcony. I remembered the way future Rogue seemed a bit on the fearful side when his sister appeared, hell bent on destroying him sooner rather than later. They weren't at any more of the parties or events held on the palace grounds. I breathed a sigh of relief on the last night, moving as close to Natsu as I could before sleeping deeply and without a care in the world.

The king and princess bid us all farewell and we got onto our respective trains that were sanctioned by the royal family. We all had our own train cars as we piled inside, Natsu and me at the far back train car with our partners. Before the train was set in motion, scientists for the royal family gave us a drug that thankfully knocked us out long enough to circumvent our motion sickness and reawaken as the train pulled into the station at Magnolia. I hoped that we could get a life supply of it for us, but the answer to that demand was no.

We decided to head to Fairy Tail since it was daytime still and everyone acted thrilled to have us back. I guess everyone had been worried about me since my collapse after the tournament. I still felt extremely guilty about keeping the fact that I was slowly dying a secret from everyone, especially my little family, but I pushed the feeling down as I watched everyone talk. Saphira ran over to me to hug me tightly, saying that she missed me while I was gone. I had a feeling that she had been spoiled rotten while Zeref and Mavis watched over her and I grinned a little. Nari hugged Ty quickly and I knew that had been difficult for the kitten. Ty started teaching her to fly while Saphira and Payne went back to talking amongst each other. I just watched them all until I heard a huge crash that signaled that Natsu and Gray had started fighting, managing to rope in a few other guys to brawl with them. I sighed a little and decided that it was probably a good idea to let this one play out or Makarov would yell at me over using my Magic so callously.

After Wendy had healed any wounds from the brawl, night had started to fall over the sky and we all packed up to go home. It didn't take very long before we made it back to the mansion and I had a talk with Zeref about what I had been through so far with our time travelling "friends." He didn't seem very disturbed by it except for when I brought up how evil I would be one day. Zeref, being the good friend that he was to me, told me that he doubted that it would actually ever happen once we all figured out what caused this future to be sent into motion. I nodded and then saw Natsu come down the stairs partially, beckoning for me to follow him up so we could fall asleep. I did so enthusiastically because I was exhausted, so we hurried to bed and passed out quickly.


	11. Return to Normalcy

**Hello, dear readers! Time for another chapter of the story! This one is a happy chapter, which I suppose is saying something since I have a lot of "terrible" things in store. Now, I should inform you all that you should watch out for the ending! That's the not so happy part. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Enjoy the latest chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Return to Normalcy**

"What do you mean, you're sending us out on a job?!"

My yells had everyone cringing, hunching down wherever they were standing in an attempt to hide. Everyone knew to take cover when my mood dropped to dangerously enraged levels. Natsu and Saphira were standing beside me, both of them looking at me impassively because they knew better than to get in my way when I went on the warpath. Even Payne, who was walking over to Saphira to talk to her, seemed to just back away a few steps as he assessed the situation. Makarov was the only one who seemed amused by this turn of events since he was the person who set me off.

"I had a request handed in last night that I felt the two of you would be perfect to send," he said with a smile as I glared down at him.

"Do you not remember what happened the last time you sent us out on a job?" I asked, my voice low in fury as everyone in the guild slowly tried to sneak out, the only ones who stood their ground being the S-Class Wizards and my family. I whipped around to see the slowly fleeing guild and I growled, "Just where do you think you're going?"

They all jumped a little before dejectedly filtering back into the guild hall, returning back to their respective places as I turned back to Makarov with my hands on my hips. He seemed to find the situation even funnier and began to laugh quietly, my glares doing nothing to stop him. I knew he was going to do this whether I liked it or not, but I still had my right to protest this. I was perfectly capable of picking out my own job to do and was just about to when he called Natsu and me over.

"You two are perfect for it because I need a bit of an intimidating team to go do it," Makarov told me once he finally stopped laughing. "Since you have no qualms over stooping to such levels, I want you both to take on this job."

I was about to come up with some snappy comeback when Natsu clapped a hand over my mouth, pulling me close to him where he could keep his hold on me. "What's the job, Gramps?" he asked as I struggled.

"Go to a town called Freesia and talk with the mayor there," Makarov told him before looking over at Saphira. "Sorry, but you'll have to stay here. I don't think you'd be all that intimidating for the job. You're not as scary as your mom quite yet."

"It's ok!" Saphira said brightly. "Can you give Payne and me a few jobs around Magnolia until my parents get back?"

"I've got the perfect one for you," the Guild Master said before leading Saphira and a dragon suited Nari away, taking Payne along with them.

"Ouch!" Natsu yelled when I took the opportunity to bite down on his hand once they had left. He let me go and I laughed a little as he checked his hand, but I had made sure not to bite hard enough to draw blood. "Really? You're going to resort to _biting_?"

"Serves you right!" I yelled, pushing him a little to set him off balance before he could get his revenge. Before he could catch me, I used my Magic to jump up high enough to dig my newly formed claws into a wooden beam and then scrambled up to sit on it, kicking my legs gleefully as I looked down at a miffed Natsu.

"Get down here!" he yelled and I could hear quite a few people chuckling at our antics.

"Alas, I would if I weren't so tired!" I exclaimed dramatically, placing a hand on my forehead and leaning back a little on the beam.

"I swear, if you don't get down here right now, I'll climb up there after you and you won't like it when I catch you!" he shouted, giving me a roguish grin.

"Oh, please," I laughed, waving my hand dismissively as I leaned forward, giving him an impish smile that matched his. "I'd like to see you try. By the time you figure out a way to get up here, I'll be diving out the window and running for town."

"Then I say we have a little bet before heading to Freesia Town," Natsu said while taking a few steps closer.

"Go on, I'm listening."

"If I catch you within one hour, then you have to obey me for 24 hours. If you win and I don't manage to catch you after one hour, I have to obey you for those 24 hours. Sound fair?"

"Hmm…" I leaned back using my arms to hold me steady as I lightly kicked my feet back and forth, then gave him a wicked grin. "I like this idea. It's a deal. Now, come and get me!"

I scrambled to my feet just as he grinned back, yelling, "You asked for it! Fire Dragon's Claw!"

Fire erupted from his feet and launched him into the air, eyes locking onto mine just before he landed on the wooden beam with me. With a laugh, I took off running and using my Magic to disappear one second and reappear the next somewhere else. I dived through the open window and landed out in the courtyard faster than Natsu could catch me, diving into the shadows in the corner and reappearing outside in an alley. If he could cheat and use Magic, then so could I.

After about half an hour in and no sight of Natsu, I was feeling quite suspicious. I stood within the branches of a huge tree, shadows covering me well as I watched out for the Fire Dragon Slayer. He was usually very good at sensing where I was hiding, so something kept me on edge the entire time. It wasn't until I heard a faint rustling above me that forced me to jump out of the tree branches. It was lucky timing for me because when I whipped around in midair, I saw Natsu jump down to the branch where I had just been standing. I could only wonder how long he had been up there and that made me laugh.

"Sneaky," I said. "Not sneaky enough!"

I twisted around before landing on my feet, then ran for the next alley that was shrouded in shadows. The poor people of Magnolia must have heard about our bet since they tried to give us our space as we ran about. Now closer to fifteen minutes until the end of our hour, Natsu was trying even harder to catch me. I could barely stop for a couple seconds to catch my breath briefly before I sensed him almost jumping on top of me. Being so close with him was both a gift and a curse during this bet since we could both sense each other from a distance.

We were at the five minute mark when I was hiding out in a dark abandoned building, shaking as I caught my breath and trying to laugh as quietly as I could. I gathered up the shadows around the whole room so he wouldn't be able to see me, the benefits of me being one of the few Dragon Slayers that could see in the dark meant that I knew who couldn't and Natsu wasn't one of them. What I wasn't expecting was I could sense Natsu's presence approaching at a rapid speed and by the time I had forced my tired body to move, there was a huge crash as he tore through the ceiling and tackled me to the ground. He had me flipped onto my back and my body pinned to the ground faster than I could struggle, keeping my arms above my head so I couldn't resist further.

"Five minutes to spare and I finally caught you!" he said, panting heavily like I was and his face only a few inches from mine.

"How in the hell did you pull that one off?" I asked.

"Oh, Ty helped me!" he said, looking quite pleased with himself. "She's been helping me this entire time. I'm pretty sure you would have won within an hour but I had my plan up my sleeve before the whole thing started!"

"You cheater!" I yelled just before he nipped at the tattoo on my skin.

"It's not cheating when there weren't any rules! I knew that the only way to catch you would be for her to carry me at Max Speed, so here I am!"

"You're the worst…" I said under my breath with a laugh. "I can't believe that she is the only reason you've found me."

"And now I win. You have to listen to me for a whole day," he said. Deciding to mess with him when he tried to lean in and kiss me, I turned my head to the side and refused to look at him. He grabbed me by the chin and forced me to look at him, his devious smile as plain as day on his face. "Now, don't be a sore loser, Timara. It's not very nice."

He softly planted a kiss on my lips, pulling away only for a few seconds to look into my eyes and see that I was unhappy with how short it was before kissing me deeply. His tongue slid against mine and I shivered when I felt his hand sliding down my side to rest on my hip. He lifted my waist up a bit to meet his and I felt his fingers digging into my hipbone. He pulled away from the kiss long enough to start lightly biting along my jaw until he reached my neck.

"It's been a while since we've done something like this," he said as he kissed me there, making me squirm restlessly.

"It has but I think you're forgetting about a couple things," I gasped, trying to free my wrists and stop him long enough to talk to him.

"I don't think I have," he told me before trailing his tongue along my throat.

My breath hissed past my lips and I arched my back, hearing Natsu's breathing begin to get ragged as his lips trailed lower. "Oh, yes you have!" I told him, freeing one wrist and placing a finger under his chin to tilt his head up so he was looking at me. "We're in an abandoned building first of all. Second, we need to go on a job now!"

"The job can wait a bit longer since it won't take us very long to get to Freesia Town," he said to me, his eyes blazing fiercely. "As for the other thing you mentioned, it's not all that dirty in here if that's what you're worried about and no one is going to know what we're up to."

He let go of my other wrist and deftly pulled my tank top off before I could protest, kissing me passionately as the fight left me. Like he had said, it had been a long time since we had done something like this and I missed the connection we had while it occurred. I also wanted to do this with him at least one more time before I died. Unfortunately, I was forced to let him call the shots as our clothes were slowly ripped off. I gave in to the fire burning in my veins as we moved together and I felt all my worries fade away.

* * *

"Where the hell did you throw my tank top?" I asked Natsu curiously. After a quick nap when we were finished, it was decided that we were finally ready to head out on our job.

"Umm… I'm not exactly sure," Natsu said guiltily, scratching the back of his head before tracking down his own clothes.

I sighed and searched further into the deep shadows of the room, finally catching sight of it and putting it on. Now that I was fully clothed, I realized I had another question. "Wait, you said that Ty helped you out during the bet. So where is she?"

"I told her to bring Happy here an hour after the bet ended," he said, looking a bit on the sheepish side again and a bit of a blush was forming on his cheeks.

"Oh, you sneaky jerk," I said with a laugh. "You had this whole thing planned out."

"Only a few minutes before I caught you!" he told me defensively, finally putting on all of his clothes and tying his scarf around his collar.

Fortunately for Natsu, Ty and Happy appeared and seemed ready to fly us away to Freesia Town. He said that it would be an hour long flight since it wasn't all that far away. Our partners grabbed us and flew us out of the hole in the ceiling before heading east towards our destination. I was back to seething about losing the bet and Ty was trying to silently laugh as we flew along. I refused to speak to her for the entire flight and that only made her more amused.

By the time we made it to Freesia Town, Natsu was grinning evilly and I knew he had come up with some horrid plan that I wouldn't like. We headed towards the mayor's house and went inside, where the man was waiting for us. He led us into his office and it was scarily clean in there, so I almost didn't want to walk in. Once we were sitting down in his two chairs that were facing his desk, the mayor sat down in his desk chair and hunched over the desk to look at us.

"I called you here today because our town is faced with a problem," the mayor said. "There's a Dark Guild here that we just can't seem to make leave. They go around eating us out of house and home, then occasionally they break into stores and houses just to cause some damage. We're tired of them destroying the town and we need them to leave."

"Judging by the fact that you called us here, you want for us to take the nonviolent route," I finally spoke up.

"If it comes to the point where just intimidation doesn't work since they're rather unintelligent, then you have my permission to use as much force as you see fit," the mayor sighed. "Just… try to keep the destruction to a minimum. They've already destroyed enough in this town, so we really don't need more of it."

"Don't worry, we've got this covered," Natsu told him with a grin. "I've got the perfect plan."

With that, he stood up and dragged me to my feet, nearly knocking Ty from my lap. He kept his grip on my upper arm and told our partners to disappear for now, letting Ty know that he would give her a signal to follow after us. Ty figured out what was going on rather quickly and I think that's why she left so fast. Natsu told me to shift into my shadow form and look like a demon, which was when I figured out the plan as well.

A large building that looked like what used to be the courthouse only it was now painted in bright colors that made it stand out horrendously was where this Dark Guild had set up shop. To make it look convincing that a man with a demon was approaching, I used my Magic to force the clouds to turn dark and thunder rumbled up above as I turned into my shadow form. I formed wings on my back and tiny horns on my head, my eyes glowing with a golden light as we got closer. Natsu let me go and we got closer to their base, a few sentries caught sight of us and sounded the alarm.

"Well, at least they have enough sense to do that," I said under my breath.

Natsu turned his head in my direction and gave me a smile. "Hey, you're supposed to be a demon and demons in this case don't talk," he said quietly so that none of the Dark Guild wizards could hear us as they filtered outside. When it looked like I was going to growl something to him, he told me, "Remember our bet? You have to obey me for 24 hours, so stop looking like you're about to fight it."

Feeling beyond enraged at this and probably making the demon act look even more convincing as I tucked my wings against my spine, we moved past the dark wizards who stood next to the door and I growled at them as we passed. They all flinched away from me and I gave them an evil grin. Thankfully he didn't want me to be a submissive demon or I would be extremely angry. The dark wizards inside were like a huge mob, milling about to catch sight of the demon before them. As we moved further into the crowd, I saw a large man sitting in a huge chair as if it was a throne to him. I let out another growl and all the dark wizards moved away in fear.

"Stop," Natsu said, giving me a stern look that wasn't something I was used to seeing. In fact, it was definitely foreign to me so I knew it was all part of the act. I stopped my growling and remained silent, both of us in a bit of a stare off before moving over to the remaining chair that was facing the Dark Guild's boss. Natsu sat down in the chair and I stood to his right just behind him, my gaze not once leaving the man sitting before me as I bared my fangs at him.

"Who are you and what purpose do you have in being here in our base?" the man said in a deep voice. Their boss had crazy colored hair just like the building and he seemed a bit afraid of me.

"Who I am doesn't matter," Natsu said as he leaned back in his chair. "My purpose is simple. The mayor of Freesia contacted me to deal with you. He wants you gone and never to return. How I do that depends on you."

"What do you mean?" the man asked suspiciously.

Natsu waved his hand in my direction as I growled softly. "See my friend here? She's just been itching to let her true demonic nature out on someone and since I'm her master, she won't do it to me. It's just so hard to keep her in line, so I let her have her fun on Dark Guilds. Now, if you leave peacefully right now and promise to never return, I will also promise that my friend here does not attack you all."

"And if we don't like your terms and want to stay here?" he asked, glaring at Natsu as all the dark wizards laughed evilly.

"Then I have no choice but to let my friend chase you off in the bloodiest way possible," Natsu said angrily. "You see, she is the Great Demon Queen, which means she can summon a whole horde of demons to attack you. So if you're really thinking you can take us both down, you are gravely mistaken. So what's your decision, the easy way or the hard way?"

"What are you?" the man growled, soon after I growled at him again he shut up.

"Oh, I'm a Fire Devil Slayer," Natsu lied, staying serious the entire time as I took a step closer to his side. "Now, make your decision within five seconds or I'll let my friend here make it for you and we all know which one she will choose."

What I wasn't expecting was that the big man could move fast as he stood up quickly, grabbed Natsu by the arm, and pulled a long dagger out to put it against his throat. "Stay there, demon!" the man howled at me, fear and anger blazing in his eyes. "Move an inch and your master gets it!"

"Do you really think a demon cares about me?" Natsu asked as he looked up at the boss. "I'm the only thing standing in the way of your certain death. If you kill me, you unleash a powerful demon upon yourselves and then the world. Is that what you really want?"

The man looked down at Natsu and I took the opportunity I now had. Sliding down into the shadows, I moved through the darkness until I was directly behind the Dark Guild's boss. I jumped out of the shadows and slid my talons out to press them against his spine. "Put the knife away right now or I sever your spine," I growled.

When he put the dagger away quickly, I slashed his back so that there were four jagged cuts in his back that weren't very deep but he still got the message. "Decision's made," Natsu said. "Go get them and chase them out."

With a roar, the shadows leapt from me and thickened until a huge horde of demons were formed from my Magic, my body burning with the strain of using so much of it. I heard screams as I sent them to attack while jumping into the fray myself. I slashed my talons at people, slicing into skin as blood began to slick the floor. I made sure not to kill anyone, just hurt them enough so that they ran in fear. Natsu gave a loud whistle and a few seconds later there was a huge roar outside as everyone began running outside. I saw outside the window as an enormous tiger that towered over the wizards waited for them, its eyes blazing red and a huge royal blue Fairy Tail mark between its shoulder blades. That's my Ty, scaring all the dark wizards with her ten foot tall form. I ran outside while slashing at more people with the help of my shadowy demons as Ty roared again, slashing her huge claws at them and making them run for the hills. She gave chase until they reached the edge of town and then watched as they kept running. As I let my talons, wings, and horns disappear and stayed in my shadow form, I crossed my arms and watched while I heard Natsu walk over to me to stand beside me.

"I'm pretty sure that they won't be coming back any time soon," I told him without looking at him at all. "Our act was pretty impressive, if I do say so myself."

"And you listened to me pretty well, so that was shocking to me," he said and I could hear the smile in his voice, trying to grab me by the arm and pull me close when his hand just passed through me. "Umm… do you mind…?"

"Oh! Yeah, sure!" I said, feeling a bit embarrassed and shifting out of my shadow form easily.

Just like he had tried earlier, he grabbed me lightly by the arm, pulled me closer, and kissed me softly. We stayed like that for a few seconds when I heard a coughing noise behind me. Jumping apart, I whipped around to see the huge tiger walking back towards us, her head tilted to the side and her teeth bared in a smile. She stalked forward a few more steps with Happy now sitting on her back, then sat down in front of us with her eyes shining in her amusement.

"Control yourselves, will you?" she said before shifting back to her regular form, dumping Happy to the ground. "We're all on a job here and we're not done with it yet until we meet back up with the mayor. Do that when we get home and we don't happen to be within ten feet of you."

I shook my head but actually listened to her as she flew over to me to stand on my shoulder. I pulled away from Natsu and we all started walking towards the mayor's house. It was late afternoon now and we waited outside his door for a while before a servant appeared. They said that the mayor was in a meeting and that we could wait outside of his office for it to be done in a few minutes. We walked upstairs and were in luck to see his meeting had just ended. He said goodbye to the man who he had been meeting with and beckoned us inside.

"So, did you finish the job so early?" the mayor asked as we all sat down in our respective chairs.

"It was easier than expected," I said with a smile as I sat Ty down on my lap. "They didn't stand a chance against us right from the start."

"That's good to hear," the mayor said with a smile. "I was honestly beginning to give up hope the moment they started using the courthouse as their base. That was our place of operations and it threw everything into chaos when they took it from us. Thank you so much, Natsu and Timara."

"Hey, what about us?" I heard Happy protest.

"Ahh, yes, I almost forgot. Thank you as well, Happy and Tyger. I'll send you your reward through your guild. You'll get it in a few days."

We nodded and then left the room entirely. Natsu turned to me with an ecstatic smile and said, "Time to go home, Timara!"

* * *

**XxXxX**

* * *

After deciding the leave the castle not long after all the wizards left for their own guilds, I just wandered about aimlessly at first. I tried searching for my era's Rogue by looking for his scent, but just like last time I couldn't find him that way. It was like he knew how to disappear off the face of the earth and that infuriated me beyond belief. I had already killed about ten people who passed me by, not bothering with any tact or secrecy and just leaving the corpses where they laid. After a while, I had a thought that sent chills down my spine. The last time I was tracking down my era's Lucy, I soon discovered after she jumped through the Eclipse Gate that Rogue had been stalking her just like me. If he was stalking her again, all I needed to do was track her down and I would find him.

Allowing for my insane side to take the lead, my eyes turned red as I giggled maniacally. I sniffed the air like a wolf on the hunt and used my Magic to search the area within a one hundred mile radius. I caught a trace of her Magic and her scent in a forest not far from Crocus that led away towards the east where I could faintly sense her presence. Like a wolf, I loped off in an easterly direction, conserving my strength so that I could run all night and day without rest. I didn't feel any pain when I stepped on sharp rocks or twigs as I ran along, my bare feet starting to bleed and leave bloody footprints behind me. I loped through the woods all night long until I was in a familiar part of the woods, slowing down and pushing the insanity back into the deepest part of my mind.

I walked along slowly as I saw a huge patch of burned forest and caught sight of the nests that had been deeply singed. I also saw the patches of moved dirt where someone must have buried the bodies of the dead Exceeds that I had killed. All that blood and screaming… I felt a smile forming on my face as I remembered it all like it had happened yesterday. If those stupid creatures hadn't stood in my way, I wouldn't have had to kill them. They were just as bad as the humans. At least the Exceeds in my era weren't nearly as trusting as these. They knew to stay hidden in colonies underground or in mountains because I would kill them all in one fell swoop. I moved further in to the center of what used to be the Exceed colony and fell back onto the singed grass. I sniffed the air as I rolled around like a wolf, then stopped moving as I closed my eyes. Even though I didn't need sleep anymore with this body, I allowed myself to shut my brain off and lose consciousness entirely.

When I opened my eyes again, I could see an orange glow filtering in between the leaves. This was another reason why I didn't allow myself the privilege of sleep often. Since I never slept habitually, only allowing myself to after a particularly bloody kill that was spread out over months, I would sleep for a very long time. I was lucky to have only slept for twelve hours this time. I stood up, adjusting the white bikini that I typically wore and the white see-through sarong dress that stayed up with a thin strap around my neck, and loped away from the burned colony.

I used the darkening surroundings to form my sunglasses again to cover my eyes and hide their now white color. As the sun was close to setting, my feet were bleeding heavily again and I ran out of the forest entirely, catching sight of a familiar mansion that overlooked a lake. I froze as I assessed the situation, waiting for memories of this place to force an emotional reaction but none came. I remembered then that my dearest daughter was here now at the mansion and throwing all thoughts of chasing down my era's Lucy to find my Rogue, I treaded lightly towards the mansion with my eyes locked onto it. I made my way over to the front of it and stopped before the door. I made up my mind right then and there, so I rapped on the door with my knuckles. I could hear tiny running feet making their way to the door, but then they stopped abruptly as another set of footsteps could be heard. The new footsteps were hesitant as they approached, and then the door was opened to reveal an old friend that I hadn't seen in a _very_ long time.

"Hello, Zeref," I said with a smile, showing off my sharp teeth.

His body language showed that he was extremely wary, his black eyes guarded as he evaluated the situation. "I would ask who you are, but I can already tell. I've heard about you and the others like you. You're the future version of my dear friend, Timara."

"You'd be correct," I told him, not once losing my smile as he spoke. "Aren't you going to let me inside the mansion? I do technically own the place."

"Unfortunately, the _true_ owner of this mansion would kill me if I let you in," Zeref said as his eyes narrowed, as close to a glare as he was going to get with me. "I've heard about your evil deeds, so you are no longer Timara to me. You are like a demon I've created and I won't let you anywhere near Timara's daughter."

"I'd forgotten how pretentious you are," I told him as my smile shifted to something darker. He never had a chance to defend himself as my fist slammed into his jaw hard enough that I heard his teeth click together. He crashed to the floor, his eyes turning red in his rage as I stepped through the door and slammed it shut behind me. "But you don't realize how right you are with your last statement. In a way, you _did_ create me and make me this way."

I heard the sounds of footsteps running their way towards us and saw a girl who was only seven make her way into the room. She had long pink hair that had a few darker streaks through it closer to the ends and tawny gold eyes. I saw on her right shoulder the golden mark of Fairy Tail. In her arms was a dark lilac purple kitten in an electric blue dragon suit. The kitten looked up at me and her eyes widened, tiny tremors shaking her body as her eyes went from storm gray to black in her fear.

"Zeref, what's going on?" she asked quietly before seeing the full situation. She looked a bit afraid herself when she caught sight of me and my now expressionless face.

"It's her…" I heard the kitten whisper as her eyes then shifted again to a mercury color that looked as if it was moving. I could hear the hidden rage in her voice as she shook even more in Saphira's arms. The girl held her tighter as Nari whispered, "It's the presence I could faintly sense after hatching. She's the one that killed my parents and the other Exceeds."

"Hello, my dearest Saphira!" I called to her as warmly as I possibly could even though I didn't feel it myself. Both of the cat and my little girl seemed to shiver even more at my words. "I'm so glad that I could finally see you again."


	12. Timara's Future Discovered

**Hello, everyone! Welcome back for the latest chapter. This chapter is a bit on the violent side since, as the name suggests, this one goes in depth to what turns Timara evil. It's not pleasant whatsoever but it had to be done or else no one would really know how it could set her off. So now that you know, read it, review it if you would like, and enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Timara's Future Discovered**

Getting back to Magnolia was a piece of cake since it only took about less than an hour to make it to our mansion. I didn't think it was odd when I saw that all the lights were out when we landed outside the mansion. Night had already fallen and I figured that Zeref had put Saphira and Nari to bed early. As we walked closer to the mansion, I caught the scent of something that had me freezing where I stood. I could smell blood and I went deathly pale as all the horrendous imaginings in my head flashed through my mind like a blur. I ran forward towards the door to see bloody footprints that led from the forest and I knew that was the blood that I had smelled.

"Timara, those footprints are the same size as your feet," Natsu said as he happened to see that I was standing next to one of them. I looked down and noticed that he was right, sending a shiver down my spine as I realized the implications of this realization.

"Oh no…" I breathed as I ran to the door.

I opened it quickly and went inside to see the flickering light from the living room that meant that there were flames in the fireplace. I went into the living room and saw my daughter on the couch, looking very nervous and holding an angry looking kitten in her arms. In the chair near the fire was a beaten Zeref, his eyes burning red while he was tied up to the chair with dark ropes and a bandage over his mouth to keep him quiet. I saw movement beside the fireplace and stepping out from the shadows was future Timara. Her white hair and eyes stood out as plain as day, along with her pale skin and white outfit. She was wearing a white see-through sarong dress over a white bikini, which I thought was incredibly weird. I happened to catch a glimpse of her feet and saw that she wasn't wearing any shoes, which confirmed that it was her feet that had been bleeding so badly.

She followed my line of sight the entire time with a slight grin on her face. "Ahh, yes, I'll have to apologize for the blood I've tracked into your home. I don't wear shoes and the forest outside your home was a bit rougher than expected. And since I saw you look puzzled about my outfit, I might as well explain that to you. I have a tendency to make things… messy. I need something to wear that I can wash the blood out of very easily and this was perfect."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, taking a hesitant step forward and making sure to avoid the stupid question of how she knew where we lived.

"I came to visit a place with such fond memories and to visit with my daughter and good friend," she said to me. I heard Zeref mumble something as he glared at her, but it was too garbled up from behind the tape that I couldn't hear it. She must have heard what he said, however, because she punched him in the jaw on the side that didn't already have a huge bruise. "You shut up. You don't know my intentions. Just because you're immortal right now does not mean that you have suddenly become a mind reader."

As she had been speaking, I heard almost soundless footsteps as Natsu walked inside the door of the main hall with Happy and Ty. He was probably intending to rush at her once the opportunity arose and I made sure to stay expressionless so I wouldn't give him away. I just dearly hoped that she couldn't sense him anymore like I could or everything would go downhill. Unfortunately, we weren't so lucky since she stood up straight and a knowing smile appeared on her face.

"My dear husband and mate to the rescue, huh?" she said, her eyes turning red as she giggled. "Come on out, Natsu, I won't bite!"

With a frustrated growl, he walked out to stand beside me as Saphira looked at us both with fear about the situation we were all in. There was a crazy woman in the house that was extremely dangerous since we didn't know for sure what she was capable of. The only thing we did know is that she had crazy insanity swings and that both her sane and mad sides weren't to be taken lightly.

I didn't even see her move as the next second she was right in front of us both. She had me by the throat as she lifted me into the air, choking the breath from me so I couldn't fight as she grabbed Natsu by the scarf tightly. He was too surprised to fight back as she pulled him close and kissed him. I let out a shriek of fury, struggling fiercely in her grip when I saw him turning pale as if the life was being drained from him. I saw his scarf turning black before he passed out and she laughed like a child before letting him drop to the floor. She finally let me drop as well before taking a few steps back, laughing even more as I crouched down beside him. I checked for a pulse, my fingertips against his neck and I sighed in relief when I found one, even if it was really weak and faint. Slowly, I stood up straight, not looking at her once as I began to shake with my rage.

"What did you just do…?" I asked, my voice barely louder than a whisper.

"I tried to suck the life from him!" she laughed. "But I knew that his scarf would ward against my Magic, so that's how he's still alive. Good lucky scarf…"

"You evil little—"

"Careful, now!" she cut me off. "There's a child present!"

"SHUT UP!" I screamed before turning around, rushing at her faster than I had ever moved before but she was ready for me. She had her hand clasping the back of my neck and pulled me close until our foreheads were touching. We stared into each other's eyes, now colorless eyes looking into golden hate filled ones that burned deeply.

"We are one and the same, Timara," the future version of me said. "You may be attached to him, but he is an unnecessary distraction from your future. You are destined to become like me and now I'll show you how."

No matter how much I fought to get free, her grip remained the same and I was forced to keep looking into her eyes. They seemed to swirl hypnotically and I soon found myself to be in a trance. Before I knew it, I was being sucked into her memories and everything went dark.

* * *

**XxXxX**

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by the guild I had grown to love so much. Ty was standing on my shoulder as Makarov handed me a paper with a job. He said that there was a missing hiker out in a forest to the north and his family missed him. This forest was known as the Shadow Forest for a reason since it was easy to get lost. The trees were huge and grew together, so the branches were close enough that zero light filtered down from above. It was always suggested that anyone entering it took a lantern along with them. Makarov said that it was time sensitive so he wanted only me to go, Natsu could stay behind and watch Saphira, who was now nine years old. Her Nari was now close to being Ty's height and her Dragon suit was large enough to fit her still.

"Timara," I heard a soft voice call my name. I turned around to see a worried looking Natsu, his eyes shining with his concern for me. "Do you really have to go alone?"

"Sorry, you know I have to. I'm the only one besides Rogue that can see in the dark and make it through the Shadow Forest in time to save the lost hiker. You know I'm quick and I'll be back soon."

"Speaking of your brother, have you heard from either him or Sting?" he asked me.

He knew that this was a subject that had been stressing me out immensely. Usually, Rogue would send a miniature Shadow Dragon to us to keep tabs on us and to let us know how things are going. Sometimes, it would be to let us know when we could meet up, either at Sabertooth or here in Magnolia. For the past six months though, it had been as if the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth had been wiped off the face of the planet. None of the mini Dragons I sent seemed to reach them and I was worried that something bad might have happened to them, but Makarov kept us busy with a multitude of jobs thrown our way.

"No, I haven't," I told him as I shook my head. "I plan on going to Sabertooth to find them as soon as I return from this job. Also, please don't tell Saphira that I haven't heard from them in a while. I don't want her to worry, too."

He moved closer, placing his hands on either side of my face before kissing me. I kissed him back and then we separated long enough to rest our foreheads together. "Just be careful, alright? I don't want anything bad to happen to either you or Ty."

I kissed him again and pulled away entirely with a small smile. "Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it."

With Ty, I hugged my daughter before I walked outside the guild hall. Ty grabbed the back of my strapless black dress and flew off to the north. I watched Magnolia pass by below us, not thinking about if I might not see it again. It was a two hour flight to the Shadow Forest where the lost hiker was said to be and it passed by rather quickly. When we landed, I hugged Ty to me and walked straight into the forest. I knew that she couldn't see in this darkness and I could, so I kept her close so she could be comforted by my heartbeat. Deep in the center of the forest, even I was beginning to have difficulty seeing. I could only see what was six feet ahead of me, so when I saw a huddled form that was shaking in the very center of the woods I thought I had finally found him. It was when I heard the ominous laughter that I knew we were in deep trouble.

"So, you've finally come…" the voice said and it was scarily familiar.

The huddled form laughed again and stood up, turning around and took a few steps closer to me. With a gasp, I realized that it was my brother, only he was much different now. His clothes were tattered and bloodstained as if he had been in a monumental fight with someone. The right half of his hair was his normal black while the rest was a few inches longer and stormy gray. The one red eye I could see was cold and harsh, staring at me as if he was angry with me.

"Rogue, what are you doing here?" I asked him, feeling a bit apprehensive. "Did you find out about the lost hiker, too?"

"Actually… I'm the one who requested for you and sent in the job to Fairy Tail," he said with a grin, acting like lion as he slowly approached. All of my instincts screamed that something was deeply wrong here, especially when I realized that I didn't see his partner anywhere.

"Rogue, where is Frosch?" I asked him as I took a step backwards, Ty shaking slightly in my arms.

He froze, his anger turning into rage as his whole body shook violently. "Frosch is dead… He died protecting me after I was foolishly ambushed by Dark Guild. After that day, I've been walking around on my own."

"I'm so sorry—" I tried to say before he cut me off.

"Shut up," he said, his voice deathly quiet as his eye locked onto mine. "Then, a couple months later, Sting tracked me down because I hadn't been back in a long time. He said that Yukino and he were worried about me and I told him what had happened. He said it was about time that I came home, that he'd send a message to you, and everything would feel a little better. But I didn't want better. I didn't want to feel anything but the blood of that Dark Guild pouring between my fingers…

"So I knew I couldn't go up against so many of them on my power alone, especially when I remembered those times you had defeated me. I needed much more power. When Sting tried to reach for me to take me home, I attacked him. He looked so confused and kept asking me why I was doing this to his friend. I told him that it wasn't personal but I needed to take his power to avenge Frosch. I knew that the only way to get Sting off his guard would be to kill Lector, so I stabbed him through with a shadow sword. As Sting felt my pain as his own from that fateful day, I then took that same sword and stabbed him through the heart. He fell to the ground with a thud and I felt a thrill of satisfaction. I watched as his light flew from him and I devoured his Magic. Then I had all the power I needed to take down the Dark Guild that killed Frosch. Within that week, I found them all and exterminated them in the bloodiest way I could imagine."

"Rogue…" I whispered, wanting to cry but I knew that this whole situation was wrong and that it might spell disaster if I did. "How could you kill Sting?"

"I needed to, don't you see?" he said as he stalked closer. "I needed to become stronger."

"So then why are you here now?"

"I'm here to kill _her_," he said, pointing at the cat in my arms. "If I kill the cat, you'll understand what I'm trying to say."

"Mara…?" she whispered fearfully, digging her claws into my arms accidentally and I didn't even feel the sting of it as blood trickled down my skin.

"Over my dead body," I growled at him.

Rogue's face erupted into an evil grin as he said, "So be it."

Quickly, I set Ty down and rushed Rogue, slamming my fist into his chest to knock him back a bit away from her. He kicked my knee hard and my legs buckled enough so I hit the ground. He created a sword from the shadows, sending it down towards my neck and I rolled away. I started panting painfully as I felt afraid of my brother for the first time in my life. I moved through the shadows to avoid a barrage of shadowy scales that were sent at me like arrows and jumped out at him to use Shadow Dragon's Slash. The sword in his hand shifted into a spear with four jagged blades curved like a jawbone and twisted it to smash the end of it into my ribs. Bones broke and I gasped when I hit the ground, next he made the shadows beneath me stretch and then explode before I could get away. I screamed in pain as I was launched into the air.

When I hit the ground a few seconds later, I was fighting to breathe with quite a few crushed ribs and maybe a punctured lung, shudders passing through my body as Rogue stalked closer. I didn't want to seriously hurt him and yet he seemed fully intent on killing us both. I looked past him and saw Ty quivering in fear, tears streaming down her cheeks. That was when I made the decision that it was kill or be killed and I didn't want to be the one who was going to die here. As he sent the spear down at me, I bared my fangs as I sank into the shadows and then jumped out of them behind him. He whipped around and before he could defend himself, I formed claws and slashed at him. He moved just right so that I slashed him on the face and saw a huge bloody blob flung away to the ground. Rogue screeched in agony and I moved in to slash his chest as he covered his eye with his right hand.

"You clawed out my eye!" he screamed, his remaining eye glowing with the force of his fury.

"Your… fault…" I gasped, trying to breathe and confirming that one of my lungs was indeed punctured. I knew I wasn't going to last very long and needed to end this soon.

With blood pouring down from various wounds, mostly where his eye had once been and the cut that extended over to the bridge of his nose, he looked like a monster as he snarled with bared teeth. "Do you think this is funny? Do you think this is just some kind of joke?! I'll make you PAY FOR THIS!"

With that, he aimed the spear in Ty's direction and threw it at her. I screamed in panic and jumped in front of her, holding her to me protectively. I felt the spear pierce my back with its jagged edges and I howled in pain when I felt it tear through me. It stopped just before cutting into my heart and my lungs slowly filled with blood. I looked down at Ty, going to smile at her and tell her that she was safe when I saw with horror that the points of the spear had pushed past my skin. They were deeply embedded in her tiny body and our blood mixed together.

"Ty…?" I whispered, feeling tears pour down my cheeks as I looked at her.

Her blood red eyes looked shocked as she looked up at me and I felt her skin twitching before she seemed to be somewhere else in her head besides with me. Before her eyes turned dark and lifeless, she whispered my name and I felt her life leave her as her tiny heart stopped. I let out an inhuman shriek, startling every animal in the forest with my cries before I finally collapsed to the ground. I sobbed inconsolably as I clutched her once warm body in my arms, my heart breaking into a million tiny pieces. I didn't have the breath to scream anymore as the blood bubbled past my lips when Rogue's foot stomped down on my spine. He grabbed hold of the spear, pulled it free as I felt a bolt of agonizing pain that was nothing compared to what I felt about watching Ty die in my arms, and then viciously kicked me repeatedly. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye as I shuddered, blood pouring heavily from my wounds and past my lips.

Rogue leaned down, getting as close to my ear as he could, and whispered, "I'm the stronger one of Skiadrum's children now. Take this knowledge with you to the grave."

He stood up, turned away from me, and left me there like trash while he didn't look back once. My body was shutting down and this time there was nothing I could do about it. The edges of my vision were turning black but I wasn't afraid. No, I was angry. Even though I was tired, I felt a rage like no other burn through my veins and something within me snapped. He is a dead man, I thought to myself in a voice that sounded so feral to me it was almost foreign. If I somehow lived through this, then I would hunt him down and kill him in every way possible, breaking his spirit first and then taking his life for my own. I let out a chilling laugh with what was left of my breath and laid my head down on the blood soaked grass. So this was what death was like…

* * *

I barely even realized that my eyes were open until I focused on the flickering flames next to me. Their crackling noises as the branches popped in the fire were comforting to me as I remembered Natsu. I figured that perhaps it was him that had found me and somehow nursed me to health, but I couldn't sense him at all. I figured it must have been because my Magic was completely gone, depleted from my fight with my so-called "brother." My body hummed with pain as I felt each and every one of my wounds aching.

"Oh, good, you're alive," a voice said. I tried to move to find the source of the voice when I heard a gentle shushing noise. "No no, you shouldn't move, Timara. You're not out of the woods yet, both figuratively and literally."

The source of the voice came into my line of sight and I saw that it was Zeref. He looked extremely worried as he sat down in front of me so I could see him without moving. "Natsu asked me to follow you and I ran here the whole way. When I found you, you had bled out a minute or so prior to me reaching you and I had to act fast. I breathed enough of my Living Magic into your lifeless body and thankfully your soul still hadn't left your corpse yet. Afterwards, I carried you to the East Forest and that's where we are now. There's something I have to tell you though and it's very important."

"What…?" I said, managing to whisper just that much.

"My Living Magic has basically made you immortal except by unnatural means, like if someone attempts to end your life. You are essentially like me, only you're still a Shadow Dragon Slayer," he told me quietly, reaching over to stroke my hair comfortingly.

"Does this mean I'm a demon like Deliora?" I whispered.

"No, I wouldn't do that to you, Timara," he whispered back gently. "My Living Magic doesn't always create demons. That was back in the past when all I wanted was to destroy the world, so I used that Magic to create beings that could do that for me. Because your soul hadn't departed yet, you are still the same person but you will live indefinitely."

I snapped my eyes up at him, locking onto his gaze and he jumped a little. "Turn me into a demon," I snarled, my body shaking as I felt the rage take over.

Zeref looked horrified at my demand, the hand stroking my hair pausing as he looked down at me. "I can't do that. Being a demon means you won't be the same person. Not only that, but you'd have to be dead again before I could ever dream to do that and I refuse to kill you."

The word "kill" had me instantly thinking about Ty and I somehow scrambled upwards to my feet as Zeref gasped. "Ty…!" I groaned as I wobbled on my feet. "Where's my Ty?!"

With a pained expression, Zeref bent down to grab a bundle of tiger colored fur. He handed her to me and I looked down upon her as tears dripped down. It looked as if she was just sleeping, peaceful and definitely about to wake for me, so I shook her slightly in hopes that she would do as I wanted. She didn't move and I shook her again, feeling panic course through my veins as a whine escaped my lips. Nothing I did worked to wake her and the tears flowed even heavier. I looked up at Zeref with a fierce determination that shocked him.

"Use your Magic on her," I said in a lethal voice.

He looked torn as he said, "I can't do that, Timara. Even if I did, her soul is long gone. She would be a different entity altogether. She would not be your Tyger anymore."

"I don't care," I gritted out. "I want her back and I want her now!"

"No! I can't do that because it will destroy you!"

I held Ty's lifeless body to my chest and let out a chilling growl that set Zeref on edge. "I'm going to ask you one last time… Use your Living Magic on Ty right now and bring her back to me or else…"

Zeref shivered and for the first time he looked very afraid. "What happened to you? Where is the Timara that was my dearest friend?"

"She died with Tyger," I told him before moving into action.

I rushed at him before he could move, my Will of the Dragon activating instantly as I sank my fangs into his throat and began to siphon all of his Magic. Almost as if he was a child, he began to whimper and shake as his fear took over. I felt bad about what I was doing to a person I considered a dear friend, but that all washed away as I felt waves of power coursing through my veins. I could feel the Death Magic taking over and battling for supremacy within me with what was left of my Dragon Slayer Magic. It hurt and the pain within me was slowly getting worse until I had absorbed all of Zeref's Magic and left him in a coma like state.

I pulled my fangs free, swallowing the blood still in my mouth and carried what used to be Ty in my arms as I walked in the direction of Magnolia. By the time I had reached it in my broken state, the next day had passed and the sun was beginning to sink down towards the horizon. I limped my way to Fairy Tail, everyone within the town's limits fleeing into their homes as I walked further. Once I saw the huge building, I clutched Ty even tighter to me as I walked inside. Everyone turned to look at me and instantly froze, making it deathly silent as they all seemed to hold their breaths. I limped further in before stopping at the very center of the building and freezing as I stared ahead into space.

"Timara!" I distantly heard Natsu yell as he ran at me. "What's happened to you?!"

I didn't answer him as I felt a strange shiver in my mind, my Magic within my body pushing at the edges as it fought to be free. I let out a wail as the Magic sent pain through my body and a dark mist began to surround me like a dome. Natsu looked afraid for the first time ever and ran towards our daughter and Payne as I covered my eyes with one hand while shaking heavily, panting severely before letting out an inhuman scream as the Magic erupted from me. I could hear anguished shrieks and yells as the Death Magic blasted a path outwards, those closest to me I could hear being ripped apart. When it finally left my body, what was left of it merged with my normal Magic and changed me. I opened my eyes to see colorless hair hanging down instead of my normal blue black colored hair. I stood up and saw the carnage before me, feeling even more horrified at this development.

There were bodies all around me and body parts scattered about as I stood in the center of what looked to be a massive explosion. I looked all around me to see that I had taken out Magnolia as well and parts of the lake looked blackened and dead just like everyone I had managed to just kill. I took a few steps forward in numb disbelief until my foot bumped an arm. I looked down to see the familiar red mark of Fairy Tail on the shoulder and a black wristband on the wrist, the numbness breaking down when it hit me that this was Natsu's arm. I screamed loud enough that my vocal cords snapped for a few seconds before my immortality healed me a little later. I shivered as yet another place in my mind broke completely and I let out an insane giggle. My laughter increased until I couldn't stop, giddiness keeping it all going until I heard footsteps behind me. I saw Lucy there and she took off running once she saw what I had done. I buried Ty's remains there with what was left of my family and departed, never once turning to look back.

Years had passed and I was now a master at my new Magic, using it in the later years when ten thousand Dragons attacked Fiore. I had many a death under my belt and about 200 deaths were of Dragons. Most of which I found on my own and slaughtered them, bathing in their blood with a psychotic laugh until the great Igneel appeared with his army of Dragons numbering in the high fifties, including Metalicana and Grandeeney. They didn't stand a chance against me as I moved about in the shadows and slashed their throats one by one, leaving Igneel for last. He was beyond angry at killing his son and grandchild, but I toyed with him for a few minutes before slashing his throat, too.

Finally, I was tired of the senseless killing and wanted to track down Lucy to take down the last member of Fairy Tail. I eventually found her and stalked her for a while, about to kill her when she was captured by knights and thrown down into the Abyss Palace. She later escaped through the Eclipse Gate and soon after, I saw Rogue and the temptation was too great to finally get my revenge on him so I ran through the gate after them.

* * *

**XxXxX**

* * *

I was yanked away by Natsu, who must have snapped out of his coma at some point so I wasn't entirely sure how long I was in future Timara's memories. I shivered in anguish as my brain tried to absorb all that I had learned. I was going to be an immortal monster one day and it was starting to look like there wouldn't be any way to stop it. Future Timara laughed a little at my horrified expression and that was when I finally noticed that Zeref, Saphira, and Nari were gone.

"I helped them out," Natsu said, panting a little as if standing was the hardest thing he had done. "You were both in that trance for so long that I could pull it off."

"Thanks, Natsu," I whispered.

"I do believe that it is time for me to go," future Timara said with a laugh. "However, there is something I need to tell you, dear husband."

"I don't want to hear anything from you," Natsu growled fiercely as both Happy and Ty peeked their heads around the corner.

"Oh, I think you'll want to listen to me this time," she said, grinning at me and I just knew what she was going to say next. "Your darling wife and mate is currently keeping a secret from you. She has some Etherion in her system that never quite went away, so it's poisoning her because she refuses to use it or allow it to change her. She is really dying and has been keeping that from you from the moment she found out at Porylusica's house!"

Natsu tensed up, taking a couple steps away from us both as he gave me a look of utter betrayal. Future Timara just gave us a happy smile before running out of the mansion altogether and leaving us to our thoughts. I knew better right then to say anything as he processed what he was just told and then he looked up at me with his eyes burning black. I felt the temperature in the room slowly getting hotter as his fists burst into flames in his anger, looking as if he hadn't intentionally used his Magic at all or was fully aware of his actions. He remained rooted to the spot as he stared down at me and I knew that things were not going to end well for me.


	13. Broken Trust

**Hello, all! Back with another chapter! This one is the aftermath of the secret being brought to light. It has a bit of language towards the end of it and it's a bit violent in the middle, but nothing too bad. It amps up the suspense for the next chapter, which I have a lot in store. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 13: Broken Trust**

My heart started pounding as the apprehension within me forced me to take yet another step back. With every step I took, Natsu took another one forward as his gaze remained locked on mine and I felt as if I couldn't look away no matter what I did. The fire surrounding his fists was at a constant blaze in his anger and I knew I was in for it now.

"So… how long did you know you were dying?" he finally spoke up, the tone in his voice suggesting that he wanted an argument that I wasn't going to give him.

"Natsu, calm down," I told him, putting up my hands to show I wasn't about to fight with him.

"Now is no longer the time to be calm," he told me, his dark eyes blazing even brighter somehow. "The time for that would have been AFTER you told me that you were dying!"

"Natsu—" I tried to say until he cut me off.

"No, stay quiet," Natsu said as the fire blazed brighter. "You've had a long time to talk and you chose not to. Now it's my turn and I am BEYOND angry!" When it looked like I was going to speak up again, the flames around his fists then erupted to completely surround him and I took another step back. "When we got married, you said you would always tell me the truth, no matter how painful it would be to either of us. I can really see how much that meant to you if you just lied to me like that. You looked me in the eyes and told me that day after you collapsed that you were fine, that you had just used up too much Magic too fast. Why, Timara, why would you do that?"

I was blown away by this but I knew that I had it coming. I knew what would happen if I didn't tell him about my condition. He looked extremely angry now at my silence and let out a growl, so now I stood my ground even though it made me cringe. I hadn't seen him this angry since before he defeated Acnologia and this time it was my fault. I sighed and finally lowered my eyes, staring down at my feet.

"So you don't have an answer for me?" he asked. "Do you know how sad that is?"

"I tried to protect you both from the pain of knowing that I was dying," I told him softly. "I was going to find a way to stop myself from dying and then you'd never have to know."

"Is there anything else you've lied to me about?" he growled. "You better not lie to me again either because I'm finding it really difficult to trust you right now."

"Nothing else," I whispered. "There is something I need to tell you though."

Even though he was livid, he still listened as I told him the tale of woe that was going to be my life. As I told him everything, the flames slowly calmed until they were entirely gone. He was still mad but it at least wasn't the senseless kind anymore. He seemed horrified as I told him about Rogue betraying me the way he did but he kept his face calm the entire time. When I was done, he just shook his head and walked towards the door.

"Natsu, where are you going?" I asked him as Happy followed.

"Going for a walk," he said roughly. "I'm still having a hard time believing the fact that you lied to me about the fact that you're dying. I just need to be alone for now."

Yanking the door open, he left with Happy and then slammed the door shut behind him. Ty came over to me, looking just as worried and scared but only about the fact that I was dying and it seemed like she was about to say something when I saw the bloody footprints still on the floor. With a sigh, I left the room, grabbed a mop and a bucket of water, and mopped up the blood. I heard the tiny footsteps of Ty following me around the entire time.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, her voice small and I could hear the hurt in her voice.

I stopped mopping altogether and leaned my forehead against the top of the wooden handle. "Just like I told Natsu, I didn't want to hurt you all with the knowledge that I'm dying. I figured I could find a cure and then it wouldn't matter."

"Mara, what did you think would happen if you had told us?" she asked me. "Did you think that we'd all freak out and a riot would start?" When I didn't answer and went back to mopping away the bloody footprints, she smacked her paw against her forehead in exasperation. "That _is_ what you were thinking would happen! We would have been upset, yes, but we wouldn't have been hysterical about it! We would have tried to help find a way to cure you, too! We love you, Mara, but why didn't you trust us with this?"

"I guess because I thought I was doing the right thing by keeping you all in the dark." As soon as I was done mopping, I picked up Ty and hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry, Tyger. I didn't mean to put you all through this, I swear."

"I know that, Mara," she said, hugging me back. "I forgive you because I know you wouldn't have done something like this if you didn't think you weren't protecting us. Just wait a while and Natsu will see reason as well."

"I should go find him…" I whispered, about to carry Ty along with me to find him when she tapped my shoulder hard enough to get my attention again.

"I don't think that's a good idea," she said to me. "I think he'll be the one that takes a while to see why you did this. Just let him have his space for now."

"For now, we'll go to Fairy Tail and I'll tell everyone what's going on between me dying and my psycho future version."

I didn't even realize that it was daytime now after being stuck in her memories and I was shocked at this. Who knew there was enough that it could take a night to absorb it all. I wasn't sure how they would take it since Natsu flipped out and I was nervous. I looked down and saw that I was now wearing the dress that I was eventually going to die in and I shivered a little before completely ignoring the feeling. As I walked down to Magnolia with the morning's rays peeking over the trees, I could only wonder what Natsu must be thinking right now.

* * *

**XxXxX**

* * *

Growling and storming off through the forest behind the mansion, I finally reached the edge of it as the sun rose higher in the sky. To say that I was angry was the understatement of the year. I was beyond pissed off, enough so that I ended up knocking a tree over by slamming a fist into the bark, which left a huge hole in it before the roots ripped free from the ground and fell altogether. I growled again as I moved outside of the forest and caught sight of a strange set of ruins. I didn't think I had ever seen it before, but I hadn't been on this side of the forest yet. I saw a dark figure standing up on one of the highest columns, a long white cape flowing in the wind and I had a bad feeling about it. Still, I felt the need to walk closer to the ruins and figured that if they picked a fight with me, I would beat him to a pulp and get some of the rage I felt out of my system.

As soon as I reached one of the stone columns that lay about on the ground, I sat down and saw that it was the man from the castle in Crocus, the one that had been watching us before the party. I remembered that Timara had told me that this was the future Rogue and I immediately had my guard up. Neither of us spoke up as we glared at each other, staring each other down the best we could to see which of us would back off. When he laughed and looked away, I knew I had won this one.

"It looks like you're having a bad day," future Rogue laughed. "Only my sister could ever make you look so angry, whether it was in the past or closer to your death."

"Shut up," I said quietly, pushing my fingers through my spiky pink hair in annoyance. "I'm not over here right now to talk about Timara, I'm only here to demand you tell me why you're in our era."

"Tell me what it is that she told you to make you angry and I suppose I could tell you whatever it is you want to know."

"She told me that she's dying," I growled, feeling the anger coming back as my hands lit up with flames. The column I was sitting on was singed with my handprints before I could calm the flames burning within me. "Actually, _your_ era's sister informed me of that and then my wife looked very guilty after it came out."

"Yeah, my sister is different from the girl you married," future Rogue said as he sat down on the column where he had been standing. "Ice runs through her veins and the only thing that gets rid of it is the burning rage she holds for me."

"Can't imagine why that would be," I said sarcastically. "It's not like you killed both your sister and her partner."

"If I could feel, I know I would regret what I did to her," he said quietly. "I killed her in every way imaginable and then left her there in the forest like garbage. It's no wonder that she is so hell bent on getting her revenge. My sister is dead and it's just a soulless demon in her place."

"Are you going to tell me why you're really here now? I'm tired of listening to your complaints when it's entirely your fault you're in this mess."

"Might as well," future Rogue said as he stood up once more. "I am here to break Acnologia free from his crystalline prison."

"What?!" I whipped around to him and glared at the man with his arrogant smirk. "That's impossible! Only I can do that and I will never help you!"

"Not true," he said. "I don't need your help to do this. All I need is control of the Eclipse Gate, except for the fact that my sister seemed to have sealed off all access to the Abyss Palace. But I digress. My plan is to free Acnologia in this era and destroy him so that I will be the true Dragon King. No one will be able to stop me then, not even my demonic sister."

"You do know that she's a Dragon killer, right? I bet she's taken down more than you ever will, so who's to say that she won't be able to stop you."

"Are you really defending the monster that your Timara will turn into?"

Before I could stop it, my mind drifted and I saw both versions of her before me. To the left was my wife and to the right of her was her demon, looking like two mirror images that were slightly inverted in a couple ways. Even though she had her moments that made her seem dark, my Timara was bright and kind. Her golden eyes always seemed to glow in amusement whenever she let out her playful streak and she always had a smirk on her face when she managed to startle someone. She had a strict sense of justice from the moment she became a Shadow Dragon Slayer and she would act however she needed to help those in need. When it came to her family, her "rough around the edges" attitude changed to that of a loving person, regardless of who was around to see it. Even though I was angry with her, I knew she had issues with hurting the ones she loved and that was why she kept the fact that she was dying secret.

I looked over to the demonic side of her to her right and everything about her seemed to be different. This Timara was cold as Gray's Magic, even colder than that sometimes as her eyes went white. She seemed to just emanate death and an uncontained fury that seemed to just choke the air. I wasn't sure how she could blend in so well with people when I could sense that something was very off about her. The crazy side of her clung too well to every part of her and that's when those red eyes would appear if it took control. Then she would bare her sharp teeth in a twisted smile and let out that psychotic giggle. This may not have been Zeref's intentions when he brought her back to life, but something did die within her to make her this way.

I shook my head as I dragged myself from my thoughts, then looked up at future Rogue with a growl. "I would never defend that demon. She's done nothing but kill innocent people and torture her past version. She is evil and that is something I fight against."

"Good choice, Natsu, especially if you heard all the horrible things she's done," future Rogue said. "You're right about what you said. She's a true Dragon Slayer now, through and through. She's killed enough of them that they thought it would be a good idea to put an end to her. You know, put her out of her misery because they figured it was dishonorable to let her tarnish all the good she had done in the past. Your father led an army against her. I happened to be there when it occurred, but of course she was too busy enjoying the moment to know I was there."

"What happened that day?" I asked curiously the moment Igneel was mentioned.

"She knew it would happen eventually, especially since she shifted into that Dragon form of hers and hung out with all the other Dragons. She listened in on conversations that rumored an army was forming under Igneel with Grandeeney and Metalicana as his partners. It took them a while to realize that a pseudo-Dragon had been eavesdropping and so they had to move up their strategic strike a month earlier with less in their army. I wanted to see my sister get torn to shreds by them so that I knew for sure that she would be dead, so I followed her to a huge canyon with red rocks where she stood in wait. Night began to fall as the Dragons made their way to the canyon."

"One question before you continue on," I told him. "Wouldn't it just be easier to show me this? Your sister showed my mate her memories of what would happen to her eventually."

"Because that's not something I can do," future Rogue said bitterly. "Because they are biologically the same person, they can transfer memories from one mind to the other. Since we are not the same person, I can't do that at all. What I can do, however, is create a projection from my shadows. Then you can see what I saw that day, which I suppose would be easier."

The shadows jumped from him and swirled around us until it created a huge dome of darkness. I couldn't see anything around me, not even my own hand in front of my face, when all of a sudden a red hue could be detected in the shadows as it slowly got brighter. I could see future Rogue now, standing beside the memory version of himself that had much shorter stormy gray hair on the left side. I could hear a loud roaring noise as a large amount of Dragons dived down from the dark clouds above and onto the red cliffs. I ran over to the edge of the cliff a few feet away from future Rogue to look down at the fearless white haired woman who gazed up at the Dragons before her. She grinned as she saw Igneel moving his way to the front to look down upon her with Grandeeney and Metalicana on either side of him.

"Timara Wyvernia," Igneel said, spurning her claim to my last name by using her surname instead, "you have been sentenced to death for your crimes against both humanity and Dragon kind alike. You have killed, tortured, and destroyed. You stole Magic from The Black Wizard and used it to decimate the strongest guild in Fiore, along with killing my son and granddaughter with their partners. You are no longer human, more demon than anything else, and it is time to honor your memory with a noble death. Do you accept your fate?"

"I am the Shadow Queen!" she yelled up at them, the fury in her voice sending her Magic out of her in waves. "I reject your sentence and I look down upon you all! I despise you and your righteous attitude, thinking you can just destroy me after what my brother did to me to make me this way! Is this the way you treat your own kind who go through the same thing I did, just kill them without a second thought?!"

"She doesn't seem so insane now, does she?" future Rogue said to me quietly. "It's when her rage comes out full force that she seems the most back to normal I've ever seen."

I was going to say something to him when I saw Igneel move even closer to the edge of the cliff. "No, Dragon kind helps our own so that this never happens. We make sure that our children stay safe. Had you not killed Natsu and Saphira, we might have come to your aide."

"So you blame me for something I couldn't control," she said just loud enough for us to hear. Her eyes shifted red and she looked bloodthirsty as she snarled with an evil grin, "I'm going to enjoy killing you all and bathing in your blood!"

Igneel reared up on his hind legs and let out a roar, calling all the Dragons to do the same before a group of them flew down to Timara. Her hair seemed to shine a brilliant white as the Dragons landed around her, a huge pile of snapping jaws and slashing claws. I heard a gurgling noise as one of the Dragon's fell with his throat slit wide open, blood pouring down over the woman with her shadow sword and she screamed in glee before moving on to the next. Within minutes, she was covered from head to toe with blood and standing on a pile of dead Dragons. Wiping her eyes to get rid of the blood the best she could, she readied herself for another attack as even more Dragons appeared before her and climbed up the pile after her. She slashed more of them until they piled up higher. Finally, all of them except Igneel flew down and not once did she look afraid as she fought back. Now she used her Death Magic so that one stab of her sword left them open for the Death Magic to enter them and kill them instantly. Some of the Dragons used their Roars but only caused the pile of dead Dragons to shift and miss her completely. Before long, she was sitting down on one of the spikes on a dead Dragon's spine near the top of the pile, looking arrogant at her certain victory as she gazed at Igneel.

"Maybe you're right," she said as she pushed her bloody hair out of her eyes, which were now back to that colorless state of hers. "Maybe I _am_ a demon. That would mean I'm the Demon Dragon Slayer. Or the Devil Dragon Slayer. I prefer the first but take your pick, oh great Flame Dragon King."

Igneel looked livid, far worse than I had ever seen him before as a child. "Timara, do you not see what you are doing? Do you not see how unforgivable your actions are? You just killed about 49 Dragons without batting an eye. You are so far gone that you are killing off your good name."

"My good name…?" she whispered before grinning a little. "I renounce my old name. I want nothing to do with my past or my goody-goody life before I became this way. It's kill or be killed and I don't want to be the one to die now that I have my immortality."

"So you really _are_ a demon then!" Igneel roared, flames creeping past his jaws as he glared down at her. "I will destroy you and send you to the fires of hell where you belong!"

"YOU FIRST!" Timara screamed.

They both let out Roars that were enough to destroy everything around them, the pile of Dragons incinerated around her. When they let the Magic stop flowing, Igneel reared up again just as Timara sent two swords after him faster than a blink of an eye and blood poured everywhere. The Fire Dragon look surprised as he collapsed to the ground just before a huge Shadow Dragon's Roar tore through his chest, leaving a huge hole through his body and extinguishing his fire for good.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and sank to my knees in despair. So this is what future Timara was capable of. She was perfectly fine with going as far as possible to get what she wanted, even killing people who cared for her or were completely innocent. She no longer carried any emotional ties with people and thought it would be funny to try to cause a rift between my mate and me. That last realization hit me hard and I knew it was true. She wanted to cause the same thing to happen to past version only much sooner so she would start earlier on her killing spree. One thing I knew for sure was that I wasn't just about to let this happen and I cast aside any anger I had left with my wife.

Future Rogue finally let the memory go and then turned to me. "I can see the gears turning in that dull brain of yours. You're trying to figure my sister out. I hate to break it to you, but you will only reach the tip of the iceberg before finding anything useful against her. She's too temperamental and crazy for her to follow any patterns."

"You might be right," I said quietly, "but there's something you didn't count on. Timara will always have her playful streak, even if it is twisted and sadistic in her future version. That is where she's most predictable."

Future Rogue looked slightly surprised as he turned pensive, just before I turned around and ran in the direction of Magnolia. I had a feeling that future Timara wasn't done playing around and would soon act again since she couldn't find her target, so I needed to get back to my mate before she did. I didn't know how, but Happy found me again after I had lost him in the woods and he grabbed me by the back of my shirt so he could fly me towards the mansion. It took a while to get there, but it was much faster than when I walked away from it. When we landed, I ran inside but no one was home. I figured that they must have gone to Fairy Tail, so I had Happy grab me again and take me into Magnolia.

* * *

**XxXxX**

* * *

I watched Natsu run off through the woods like a puppy being called by his master. I remembered a time I was like that, controlled by what one would define as love. An image of Yukino appeared in my mind but I pushed the thought away with a growl. I couldn't afford to think of her at a time like this. I would later have my revenge for her when I caught her killer. It was another reason I hadn't told Natsu about why I had come to this world. Not only did I want to become stronger, but I also wanted to have the power to destroy Yukino's murderer.

Before I could stop it once more, my mind drifted back to the past again. After I had utterly destroyed my sister, I walked out from the Shadow Forest blearily as blood loss had finally gotten to me. What was left of the tissue where my right eye had been stung like a million bees were attacking me, making me collapse on the grass on the outskirts of the forest. I happened to look up just in time to see Zeref carrying my sister's corpse away before passing out myself. When I came to, I ripped some of the fabric from my clothes and tied them around my head tightly to keep my eye socket covered. It burned even more and I panted heavily from the pain until I passed out again. Waking up not long after, I pulled myself to my feet to look down at my other wounds. I was mostly covered in a huge amount of bruises but I had four slashes across my chest that still oozed blood whenever I moved. I ripped up my cape entirely to wrap strips of it around my chest tightly and hissed in pain until it was done. After that, I decided to wait a little until I felt better before I walked towards Magnolia. I wasn't done on my quest to become stronger so I went in the direction of Fairy Tail to kill the other Dragon Slayers left alive.

What I hadn't expected was the fact that the whole town was razed to the ground and at the center of the destruction was my sister. She now had white hair and a psychotic laugh, her eyes blood red as her mind snapped. Before I could stop it, I felt the dull ache of fear coursing through my veins, the first real emotion I had felt since Frosch's untimely death that wasn't blind hatred or rage. I turned around and decided on a whim to walk back to Sabertooth. I didn't know what I would do there once I made it, but I did know that I just wanted to see Yukino one last time.

Walking there meant it was almost a month before I made it and I killed whatever Dark Guilds I could find. None of them were the one that killed my Frosch. Eventually, I made it to the town outside of Sabertooth and walked the rest of the way through the forest to the hill overlooking the guild. I looked down and froze, seeing nothing but destruction before me. Sabertooth had been utterly annihilated, fire burning over what used to be the Sabertooth guild hall. In front of the rubble as if they had all been running from a monster laid the bodies of my guild mates. I looked around almost frantically for signs that Yukino had somehow escaped when I saw her corpse out in front. It looked like she had been the one to lead the charge away from whatever they had been running from. She looked petrified by whatever had chased them and she had huge gashes on her back that went all the way to the bone. I had a feeling that was what killed her and I was beyond hurt and outraged by this. I let out a horrible scream as I sank to my knees, thinking that perhaps the Dark Guild that killed Frosch had come back for the rest and I vowed to kill them all.

Shaking my head to lose the memory, I made my way after Natsu towards Magnolia. For some reason, I had a feeling that the town was where I needed to be. It didn't take very long before I made my way out of the forest and into the town. I found myself walking until I was within an enormous park. There were trees everywhere and shadows covering a lot of ground. I sighed as I finally found a place to feel comfortable and moved into the very center of the park. I was about to sit down when I heard a familiar ominous laugh up in the tree branches. Of course, as I looked up into the high branches, there my sister lay in wait as she crouched down on a branch within the darkest part of the tree.

"What are you doing here?" I growled as she looked down on me, her eyes blazing white as her gaze remained locked on me.

"Well, I just felt the need for us to have a talk," she said, seeming expressionless for now.

"You're not the type to do that anymore," I growled.

"I have a confession to make, so I think you should listen," she told me calmly.

"What is it?"

"Well, you see…" she started, tapping a finger against her bottom lip. "I've done something I regret."

"You don't feel anything, so how can you regret it?" I growled at her, getting impatient. "Now get on with it. I'm tired of waiting while you screw around!"

"Fine, you asked for it," she said as her eyes blazed in anger. "You might be right about me not feeling. I don't. But I do want to feel the rush of ecstasy when I see the look of despair on your face. I was there the day you found Yukino and Sabertooth destroyed. They died a gruesome death by my hand." I froze at her words and her grin formed lazily as she shivered. "An eye for an eye, Rogue! Take it as sign you shouldn't try to kill family!"

"You evil—" I snarled before he cut me off.

"Don't you dare call me what I think you were about to say!" she growled before jumping down from the trees. She whipped around to glare fiercely at me and bared her teeth at me. "You killed my Ty and so I killed your Yukino! We're even now, you son of a bitch, and I'll make you burn in hell for this!"

With roars of anger, we clashed together and the fight began.


	14. A Plan Comes Together

**Helloooooo, everyone! Here is the latest chapter for you all! This one is a bit violent, but it's not as bad as some of the scenes in previous chapters. It's pretty much about our beloved characters coming up with an idea for what to do next, just like the title says. There is a mild swearing, but aside from that you should be fine. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 14: A Plan Comes Together**

"WHAAAAAAAAT?!" I heard a mob of voices all say at the same time.

Every single wizard from Fairy Tail sat before me in shock, the jaws dropped down at they gazed up at me. Ty and I were standing up on the stage and we had begun to tell them what we knew so far, starting from the incident where future Rogue played with my brother's Frosch to future Timara revealing the fact that I was dying to Natsu. Everyone seemed in disbelief, even my own daughter and Zeref. Saphira looked hurt and hugged Zeref as Nari stood on her shoulder with a glare. That kitten was already protective of her. Payne was even glaring at me as he walked over to Saphira, who let go of Zeref to cry on Payne's shoulder when he hugged her. Now I felt like the worst person in the world. Ty, who was in my arms, patted my hand and gave me a comforting smile.

"So you're saying that I have a future version running around, too?" I heard Lucy ask as she shook of her surprise.

"That's right," I confirmed. "Although I don't know where she disappeared to, she is definitely here. I just hope the other two didn't get to her first."

"Wow, to think that future Lucy is the sane one of the three…" Gray muttered under his breath, making me smile a little.

"Hey, I'm right here, you know!" Lucy yelled. "Say that again and I'll sic Loke on you!"

"I'd like to see you try, Blondie!" Gray yelled back. "Loke wouldn't do that to me!"

"I think we're getting off topic here!" I shouted at them, glaring fiercely so that they shut up and hunched down a little. "The fact of the matter is that we've got two crazy people from the future here to settle a grudge match to the death and we need to do something about it!"

"She has a point," I heard a voice say from the front door of the guild hall. Everyone turned to see that Natsu and Happy were strolling inside, heading towards Ty and me on the stage. It didn't take long for him to hop up on the stage with me, standing just a few feet away to keep a distance between us. "They're not going to stop until one is dead. And we have to decide which one of them is the biggest threat to Fairy Tail or Fiore in general."

"Why do we have to choose which one is the most dangerous when we know they're both evil?" Laxus asked us. "Why don't we just take them both out together and be done with it?"

"Because that's impossible," I told him calmly. "Future Timara has immortality like a demon and total control over Death Magic after she siphoned it from their era's Zeref. Future Rogue is almost as strong as her, if not just as strong. One of them is going to die and we have to figure out what to do in case they separate after a battle to go about their separate plans."

"What do you mean?" Makarov finally spoke up.

"So far, we only know what Future Timara is here for but we don't know if there is anything else she wants to do," I said. "She's here to track down both future Rogue and future Lucy because she plans to kill everyone from her era. Mostly, she just wants to destroy Rogue for turning her into the monster she is today and also revenge for killing her Tyger. She also likes to torment me on purpose because she thinks it would be a great idea to turn me into her early, so she wants to cause rifts between everyone I care about and me."

"As for future Rogue," Natsu said, startling me a bit and making me turn to look at him, "he's here for a more structured purpose. He came here to track down Acnologia where I have him trapped in crystals so he can break him free. Then, he's going to kill the Dragon himself so he can be the true Dragon King. I'm pretty sure that's just a bid to be the strongest, which seems to be his motivation for everything. He also wants his sister dead because he's a constant reminder that she's actually the strongest."

"It sounds like neither of you know for certain what's going on here and are going based off guesses," Erza stated. "How are we going to know what to do or what to expect on guesses?"

She was right. Even though I was reeling over how Natsu found out his information, I could hear the sense in Erza's words. We hadn't been able to glean for sure what they wanted here, especially my future version because she was so unpredictable. The only one that had been forthcoming at all had been future Lucy. That's when it finally hit me.

"Future Lucy," I whispered, looking down at the stage while I said that. Then I looked up and said a bit louder, "We need to find future Lucy. That's what we should be doing right now. If anyone will tell us what their plans are, it should be her. She was the only one who seemed to give us a straight answer."

"Lucy!" Natsu called out as she looked up, seeming startled. "Where would you typically hide out in Magnolia when you just needed a safe place with your thoughts?"

"Well, I would usually just go to my apartment," she said. "That way I can write some more stories."

There was a flash of golden light next to Lucy as Loke appeared, looking as calm as could be under the circumstances. I heard the noise of him clearing his throat before saying, "I know another place this future Lucy would go."

"Where?" Natsu and I asked at the same time, both of us looking at each other when he seemed to just huff and look away while I turned my gaze downwards.

"The only place a demon can't go," Loke said. When no one seemed to catch on, he added something else. "You know, sacred ground?" When there was even more confusion, he sighed in exasperation before saying, "Are you all really that dense? Where is the only place in Magnolia with sacred ground? That would be Kardia Cathedral! She's hiding in plain sight where neither of them can get her and obviously where you two idiots can't find her."

"Now wait a minute, why can't future Rogue go in the Cathedral?" Gray asked suspiciously. "He's nowhere near demonic like his sister."

"No but he does have a deranged god complex that can't allow for someone else to be stronger than him," I reminded him. "Let's say a godlike creature appears before him and attacks him in the Cathedral, then he would feel worthless and he's not about to let that happen any time soon. He seems to be a bit superstitious."

"Lucy, Loke, Gray, and Erza, we'll all go to Kardia Cathedral and bring future Lucy back with us. That way we'll have enough people to play keep-away with future Rogue and Timara," Natsu said.

"Do you think that will be enough people to fend off two powerhouses?" Gray asked. "If what you say is true, then we are dealing with two people who possess almost godlike powers. The only thing we could do is hold them off long enough to get her here and even then if one of them wants in, they could do it."

"You also forget one thing," I told him. "Neither of them is here right now. If we move fast, we can bring her back without them even knowing."

"While the cat's away, mice will play," Lucy said to Gray, who looked a bit put out by all this. I could tell that this was the last thing he wanted to do, but then he grinned.

"Alright then, let's do this," he said simply.

"What about the rest of us?" Mira asked curiously.

"Fortify the place so that we're the only ones who can get back in," Natsu said. "Have Freed and Levy use their Magic to protect the place."

"It's going to be difficult," Levy said, looking puzzled. "We might not be able to get our Timara back inside if she leaves the guild hall."

"Don't worry about me," I told her. "If I get locked out, I'll be all right on my own. I'm a big girl, I can handle myself."

"But—" Levy tried to say before Gajeel threw an arm around her shoulders to stop her.

"She's right," Gajeel said while looking up at me. "She's perfectly capable of handling the situation on her own if she's locked out. She might be able to keep the peace and protect Magnolia if they clash in the town."

I was surprised at the confidence he seemed to have in me and I nodded my thanks. Gajeel grinned at me before dragging Levy away so she could start working on the wards with Freed. A huge commotion began to get loud as everyone went about their business to help barricade the place. I turned to Natsu and was going to say something when he glared at me. It was shock enough that I took a step back, unprepared for the emotion in his stare that blazed angrily.

"You're going to stay here," Natsu said calmly, even though his eyes betrayed him.

"Oh no, I'm not," I told him as I shook my head. "I'm going with you all. You're going to need all the help you can get."

"We'll be fine without you," he said and I felt a bit hurt by his words. "I don't want you locked out and you'll only get in the way. Besides, you'll just lead them to us and we don't need that."

Now it was my turn to feel anger. I let out a hiss of rage as he jumped down from the stage without a second look at me and then walked out of the guild hall with the little group behind him. I turned to look for my daughter, but Payne had led her away somewhere within the guild hall. The same thought that I couldn't do anything right kept playing over and over in my mind as I let out another hiss. If I couldn't do anything to help, then I would at least follow after Natsu from the shadows and make sure no one ambushed him.

"Ty, will you do me a favor?" I asked the cat in my arms.

"Of course," she said. "What do you want me to do?"

"Go find Saphira and tell her that I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I didn't mean to hurt her or her father by keeping this from them."

Ty gave me a quick hug before flying away and I shifted into my shadow form. Moving quickly, I soon found Natsu's Magic and followed after him in shadows of alleys. Not once did anyone catch sight of me, even though they were on high alert the entire time. I shook my head in frustration at their stupidity. They needed my help but my dear mate was too stubborn so I was forced to hide in the sidelines. I made sure to check that no one else was hiding within the shadows by using my Magic, feeling around for all of them in the town. I could sense future Rogue and Timara deep in the center of the town within a park, but they couldn't sense me thankfully. They weren't a threat as of yet, but I monitored their location periodically until my group of friends made it to Kardia Cathedral.

They went inside and I finally moved out of the shadows, letting my shadow form fall from me as I looked up at the Cathedral. In the back of my mind, I wondered if I was even human enough to get close to it but I finally got up the courage to do so. Taking a few hesitant steps forward, I walked up to the front door of Kardia Cathedral and saw everyone inside looking for future Lucy. Quickly, I formed wings and flew upwards to look for a way inside. Surprisingly, the only opening I could find was up by the bell tower. I sat down on the very edge near the bell itself as I heard voices down below as they echoed off the walls.

"Damn, where could she be?!" Natsu yelled, nearly making me fall off the ledge and back down the roof. "Come on out, future Lucy! We didn't bring our Timara along with us and none of the other people from your time followed us!"

"Please!" Lucy said as her keys jangled on her belt. "You know me! You know I wouldn't betray you!"

"You can't protect me…" I heard a voice as light as a whisper say. I knew that Natsu must have heard it too because I looked down as he ran into my line of sight. He peeked behind a pillar and pulled the woman in her black cloak out of the shadows. "No one will be able to stop those two if they decide they want me to die."

"I hate to break it to you, but future Timara already wants that," Natsu said. "She told us that she began to stalk you just before you jumped through the Eclipse Gate because she intended to kill you. You're the last from your era's Fairy Tail and she wanted her guild to finally be put to rest."

"It's not me you need to be worrying about," future Lucy said with a sigh. "I don't really care if I die anymore. I've seen enough in my lifetime that I am fully prepared to accept my fate. It's _your_ Lucy you need to protect, not me."

I was curious about what she meant when Erza asked, "What do you mean?"

"My era's Rogue came here to kill her," future Lucy said sadly. "He thinks that she will eventually close the Eclipse Gate and ruin his plans."

"I don't even know what this Eclipse Gate thing is!" Lucy yelled, fear dripping from her voice. "How can I do something like that?!"

"Because you hold the power to seal it since you are a Celestial Spirit Wizard. All 12 Golden Zodiac Keys are needed to shut it, so he plans on killing you, taking your keys, kidnapping Yukino, and forcing her to open the Eclipse Gate. That's his master plan. Then he can go with the Dragons he plans on setting free on your world and using them to destroy Acnologia."

There's his plan, I thought to myself as I leaned back on the ledge. I debated on hopping down to ask more questions when I felt the ground under the Cathedral shudder and shake as a huge explosion rocked the ground, sending up shadowy flames that towered upwards to the sky. I knew right off the bat what was happening and I jumped down from the ledge next to the bell, opening my wings with a snap and flying off in the direction of the flames. I heard a few yells behind me and knew that it was from the group with Natsu. I hoped that they would take her to Fairy Tail now while future Rogue and Timara were obviously distracted but I set my sights on the flames that were slowly sinking back down, even though the flames still licked at trees and buildings nearby. I could hear screams from poor people around the tower of flames and I hoped dearly that they hadn't been caught in it.

I landed in the branches of a tree to hear a roar of outrage before a tree was felled by an attack I couldn't see. I jumped down a few branches and saw the both of them fighting. Future Rogue was completely out of control for the first time since I had seen him while his sister just dodged his attacks, a wide grin on her face as her eyes were red. I knew that she was taunting him on purpose to get him riled up and I wondered what she must have said to get him this way.

"You bitch!" he shouted as his fist erupted in wild shadows while he sent it flying at her face but she dodged it without attacking back. "You killed Yukino!"

I felt dread force my body to lock up, staring down at them and hoping what he said wasn't true when she said, "Oh, please. Yes, I killed Yukino but I already told you I did it after you killed my Ty! We're even now!"

Even though it was wrong, I felt relief at her words. They were talking about their era's Yukino, not ours. My brother would be all right and so would his girlfriend. I heard a rustling in the tree with me and looked up to see Natsu gazing down at me. He and Happy climbed down quietly and stood on the branch with me, watching the scene unfolding below us.

"I thought I told you to stay in Fairy Tail," he said quietly so that only Happy and I could hear him. "Yet I saw you flying away from Kardia Cathedral, which meant you followed us the entire way."

"Well, you idiots forgot to check the shadows the entire way to the Cathedral," I told him without looking at him at all. "Someone had to watch your backs in case you were ambushed."

He didn't say anything at first, just watching as the fight below us dragged on, then said in a softer voice, "I knew you wouldn't listen and would follow us, so I told them not to bother checking. I looked as we walked but I knew you would have our backs, even if you were feeling hurt by my words."

"Does this mean you're not angry with me anymore?" I whispered.

"No, I'm still very mad at you," he said before turning to look at me, only this time his eyes were kinder. "I'm beyond pissed at you for not telling any of us, but I can see why you did it now. I know you didn't want to hurt us or worry us more. I might have done something similar at first if I was in the same situation." With that, he reached over to gently grab my hand, sliding his fingers between mine and squeezing tightly.

There was a commotion below as a loud laugh echoed through the trees. Future Timara had swept her leg out to kick her brother in the back of his knees, sending him to the ground with a frustrated growl. She had been toying with him the entire time and now she was taking it up a notch, increasing his anger to epic proportions. I squeezed Natsu's hand back and watched as future Rogue scrambled to his feet with a snarl.

"You killed her…" he growled at her and his one eye was shining with what looked like… pain. Even though he rarely showed or felt emotions, he was hurt by this development. "How could you kill her…?"

"Get over it, will you?" she sighed. "I'm all alone in the world and you don't see me complaining about it. I killed my mate and daughter. You try doing that and feel the pain from that instead. What you're feeling is nothing in comparison."

"SHUT UP!" he screamed before rushing towards his sister. I wasn't entirely sure, but I thought I might have seen his eye filling with tears before a huge column of flames erupted upwards when their fists collided. I hissed when all of a sudden there was a huge explosion of light within the column that blinded me. I heard a scream from within and when the light died down there was a tattered looking future Timara, who was breathing rather heavily as blood trickled from various shallow wounds while her eyes shifted white. Now she was serious.

"So there is your weakness," future Rogue said with an evil grin as his rage took over. "You can withstand the shadows by just absorbing them through your skin, but light hurts you more than ever. How long have you known that? Or did you not figure that out yourself? Demons hate light and that's the same with you!"

"Lucky shot," she said emotionlessly as she assessed the situation. "It won't happen again. I won't let you hit me like that a second time."

"Should we do something?" I heard Happy ask Natsu.

"Not yet," he said. "If it gets out of control, then we can step in. Let them fight it out first."

"I've had it," future Rogue said. "I try killing you once, you somehow live. I tell the Dragons about how you had a psychotic break and that you needed to be put down, you somehow live again. I'll just have to try killing you again myself since that seemed to work the best!"

"Good luck," she said quietly before disappearing.

A second later and she was back, right behind him as she slashed him with her claws. He let out an agonized scream as her claws must have gone deep while blood spurted from his back. He instantly let out a gurgling breath before shifting into his White Shadow Dragon Mode, the right half of his body covered in darkness while the other half remained the same. I had a feeling that things were slowly spiraling out of control when future Timara shifted into her demon form. The shadows just poured off of her before she moved faster than ever. Future Rogue never knew what hit him as he was covered in deep gashes from her claws. At one point, he managed to hit her with a beam of light, making her scream in pain and knocking her off her feet for a second before she moved after him again. I was getting tired of the fighting now, about to go down there to stop it when a huge explosion of light went off around them when another of their attacks collided. I felt pain as the light hit me, burning me through and making my Magic act up to push the very limits of my mind. Quite a few of the smaller trees in the park were dropped to the ground and a few buildings in the surrounding area were gone.

"ENOUGH!" I screamed down at them, making them both look up at us.

"Done watching the show, I assume?" she yelled up at me.

"You're going to destroy the city!" I screamed at her. "If you're going to fight, do it someplace else! Now leave here!"

"And if we don't want to leave?"

A huge crystal that was glowing red and throwing off an intense amount of heat rose up from the ground in front of them both, forcing them to jump apart or to be burned to death. "Or I lock you inside one of those and we watch you burn," Natsu growled.

Future Timara let out an exaggerated sigh before saying to her brother, "Well, Rogue, I guess this means we'll just have to kill each other another time. I do hope those injuries of yours don't get infected. Or that you don't die of blood loss since that's not what I have planned for you."

They both seemed to just disappear without a trace, even though I had a feeling they just went into hiding within the town itself. Hopefully they went to opposite sides and wouldn't start another fight while we aren't looking. It was decided then that we would head back to the guild. When we got there, he walked through the door and I hit the barrier, a huge wall of letters appearing before me and blocked my path. With a sigh, I walked over to the side and sat down next to the wall in front that overlooked the courtyard. I leaned back and rested my head against the stone until I heard a soft set of footsteps approaching. I looked over at the door and saw future Lucy walking over to me.

"Locked out, I see," she said, sitting down across from me and pulling her hood off her head.

"It's not a big deal," I told her. "I told them to make it secure while you're in here and that was all that mattered. They could worry about a loophole for me as soon as it was safe. You should really be inside right now, you know."

"I trust you'll protect me," she said with a wan smile. "You know, even though I knew you were much different than the Timara I had grown accustomed to, it was still a shock to see you as kind and warm. I can't even explain why, but I guess it's because when you see something so horrifying it warps your sense of reality."

"Were you told what happened to me that day?" I asked her quietly.

"Yes, I know what Rogue planned to do to her now," she said quietly, separating me from my future version to show how we were different. "I know that she was saved from the brink of death by Zeref and how she just snapped. I know everything now but it still doesn't excuse the fact of what she did after. She killed the whole guild and her family and that is inexcusable."

"I'm sorry about that," I said quietly, looking up at the sky.

"Hey, don't be," she told me. "It wasn't you that did that. You are different." I didn't look at her, just kept looking up at the sky and remaining silent. "I heard that you are dying. I didn't know that."

"But how?" I asked.

"Obviously because our Timara didn't tell anyone about it," she said with a laugh. "She was most likely would have told us on her deathbed, so I guess that means you're already a step in the right direction. She must have stopped her death when she took Zeref's Magic. So, has Natsu forgiven you yet?"

"How'd you know he was angry at me?" I asked her quietly.

"Well, I wondered if something was wrong when he said you weren't around while they were looking for me in Kardia Cathedral," she told me. "Then on the way back, Lucy explained everything to me and I figured things out pretty fast."

"Well, he kind of has forgiven me, but he's still furious with me. Can't say I blame him for it. My daughter, however, is another matter entirely. She doesn't want anything to do with me and I'm not going to push her further right now."

I looked back at her and she seemed as if she was going to say something else when we both heard footsteps approaching from inside the guild hall. We both turned to see Natsu walking outside with Saphira and all of our partners following behind. She had her arms crossed in anger and then turned her back on me once they stopped before us. I sighed, looking up at Natsu with pleading eyes, but he just nodded his head in the direction of Saphira. I knew what he wanted me to do and it was going to be hard.

"Listen, Saphira dear," I said softly, hoping with everything I had that she at least wouldn't stay mad at me for long. "I know that you're more than just mad at me. I know you feel hurt that I kept this hidden from you all. I'm not going to give a pretty excuse for my actions either because I love you all too much. Just know this. When I decided not to tell you both about the fact that I was dying, I didn't do it to hurt you. I did it for the opposite reason. I hid it from you because I didn't want to see any of you upset or crying, nor did I want you to worry about me needlessly. I wanted you guys to stay happy for as long as possible before I told you."

She didn't say anything for the longest time, not even bothering to look at me, and Natsu placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and it seemed as if they were both silently communicating with each other. After a while, he nodded slowly and she finally turned around. I had a feeling that the both of them had talked beforehand and I wondered what exactly was said when she finally looked as if she would speak to me.

"I wish you would have just told us, Mom," she said quietly, looking at her feet as she tapped a pebble next to her toes. "I would have been sad, but we would have at least known about it. Ignorance isn't bliss." She paused and I was surprised at how grown up she sounded. I didn't like the thought of my baby girl growing up so fast, but I didn't like how angry she was at me even more. I saw tears dripping down her cheeks when she finally whispered, "And yet I'm glad you did it. I know that's wrong, but I don't like the thought of you dying. I know you didn't want me to worry. I'm sorry for being so angry with you!"

With a sob, she ran at me and threw her arms around my neck, hugging me to her as tightly as she could. I wrapped an arm around her tiny waist and rubbed her back soothingly. I felt my eyes well up with tears as well and tried to blink them away the best I could. We stayed like that for a while until her crying stopped and even then I still held her. Natsu walked over to us and placed his hand on top of my head, ruffling my hair a little and giving me a small smile. We didn't even separate when there was a loud commotion at the door into the guild hall and Levy burst outside with Gajeel next to her.

"Good news!" Levy exclaimed as she beamed at me. "I found a loophole to let you inside!"

"What's that?" I asked her, shooing future Lucy away so that she would go inside where it was safe. She let out a light chuckle before doing as I said and Levy walked closer.

"I have a question first for you!" she said quickly. "Do you by chance have any evil intentions?"

"That depends on what your definition of 'evil' is," I told her with a mischievous grin.

She laughed when Saphira smacked me on the shoulder after she sat up, giving me a stern look while Natsu looked away to hide his amusement. "You know what I mean, Timara! Do you have any plans for world domination?"

"Of course I do!" I told her, acting offended. "Who wouldn't plan that just in case?"

"Timara…" Natsu said warningly, giving me a look out of the corner of his eye that said to stop joking around.

"Ok, fine," I told him, shaking my head a little. "I don't plan on mass genocides or all that other stuff that my future version dreams about. I'm a good girl compared to her."

"That's a stretch…" Natsu said under his breath, earning a glare from me.

"Anyway, now that we've successfully managed to move off topic," Levy said, giving us an amused glare, "back to what I was trying to say. My loophole is simple. I can rewrite the barrier so that no one with evil intentions can get inside. It's better than how it was made before so I think it will work perfectly for you."

"Just make sure to specify on what evil means so I don't accidentally get locked out again," I told her, laughing a little when she finally walked away.

It didn't take very long for Levy to tweak the barrier, only a minute or so passed before she yelled at me to try it again. I was quite pleased to be able to walk through it that time because being outside wasn't nearly as fun. I immediately found a table where I could be on my lonesome and sat down near a corner. I knew that eventually the discussion over what to do next would start and the interrogation of future Lucy would be just before that. I just sighed and watched everyone go about their business as I let myself be washed away by my thoughts.


	15. Blood Rains Down

**Hello, all! Obviously from the title of the chapter, you can tell that things are going to get on the violent side of things. Plans are put into motion and a fight breaks out. It's all rather exciting, so enjoy!**

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**Chapter 15: Blood Rains Down**

"Earth to Timara!" I heard someone say as a hand was waved in front of my eyes to snap me out of my thoughts. I jumped a little and turned to see a grinning Natsu sitting beside me, looking rather amused to catch me off guard. He rapped his knuckles against the side of my head and asked, "Is anyone there? The lights are on but nobody seems to be at home."

"Ow, stop that, will ya?" I told him grumpily, rubbing the side of my head where it stung a bit. "Now why are you over here and bugging me?"

"Oh, somebody is feeling grouchy," he said with a laugh as he pulled me close so he could hug me tightly. I felt the breath leave me quickly as he squeezed me even tighter. "Guess I'll have to cheer you up!"

I squirmed in his hold and smacked his arms until he finally loosened his grip, laughing when I tried to catch the breath I lost. "You jerk!" I yelled, trying to hide my smile by looking away. "Are you trying to kill me now? And you never told me why you're bugging me!"

"I felt like bugging you, that's why," he told me as he pulled me onto his lap so I was facing him. "Nice try, attempting to hide the fact that you secretly think this is funny."

"I do _not_ think it's funny!" I yelled, making myself go expressionless as I tried to get free, only to have him tighten his hold on me again. "Not let me go!"

There were a few snickers in the guild hall as a few people heard us, so I gave them a glare to make them look down to hide their amusement. "I'm not letting you go, Timara," he told me as he buried his face in my neck and inhaled my scent.

"Are you tormenting me because you're still mad?" I asked curiously as I tried not to shiver.

"Yep!" he said simply, brushing his nose along my neck and up to my ear.

"I disapprove!

"I don't really care!"

The laughter was getting a bit louder at our antics as I struggled to get free for the umpteenth time, contemplating using Magic to separate us when I heard a laugh that was different from the others. It had me freezing instantly as I looked up at the door and saw a figure standing there with a hand on the barrier that refused to let her in. Natsu turned his head to see what I was staring at and kept his hold on me, denying my attempts at freedom even more as everyone's attention was dragged to the barrier.

"Not bad," future Timara said, her eyes glowing white as her hand slid up and down the barrier as if she was feeling for a loophole she could get through. "I want to say that I'm surprised that you all moved this fast to form a barrier against us, but this used to be my guild too so I know all of your tricks. My brother isn't that smart obviously or he'd be here to examine this as well."

"You're not a part of Fairy Tail anymore," Makarov said as he moved out into the main aisle to stare her down. "You destroyed your era's guild, which means you are now an enemy to us. We've heard about all the things you've done and now we're asking you politely to leave peacefully."

"I _could_ do that, I really could," she said with an evil smile that suggested that she knew something we didn't. "But since I see no reason for me to do so and because I know you can't make me, I don't really want to right at this moment."

"You think I can't make you, huh?" Makarov growled as he took a few steps closer. "If you don't leave right now, I will use Fairy Law on you and you will die. Then we will no longer have to deal with the threat your existence causes."

"Ah, yes, the great and powerful Fairy Law spell," she said with a sinister laugh. "The only way you can use it against someone is if your heart perceives them as an enemy. Your mind might think I'm a danger to your 'children,' but your heart still thinks I can be saved and that I'm still a part of the family."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Makarov bellowed at her and I could see that she had gotten to him.

"Struck a nerve, did I?" she said as that grin of hers slowly got wider. I watched her expressions soften as a tearful shine appeared in her eyes, her voice losing its harsh edge with her next words. "Oh, Guild Master, I'm so sorry. Please let me join you all one last time."

I could see that Makarov was struggling now, being pulled in by her charms, and I broke free from Natsu's hold. He grabbed me by the hand and was dragged behind me as I ran over to Makarov, taking a step in front of him to snap him out of it. "Just get out of here!" I growled at her. "You're not welcome here and we won't fall for your tricks!"

"Well, the one person who can see past my genius wiles steps forward," future Timara said with a disappointed sigh. "With her lovely mate in tow, might I add. And here I thought I had separated the two of you by revealing our little secret."

"Tried and failed," I told her. "Not everyone is as sick and twisted enough like you are. We know how to work things out instead of feeling the need to kill each other."

"Yeah, I suppose killing isn't everyone's cup of tea," she said, pausing a couple seconds to tilt her head to the side and think about it for a second. "Anyway, I had a purpose in coming here."

"I'd hope so," I heard Natsu whisper next to me.

"I came here to tell you all that you shouldn't feel so safe behind your big bad barrier. If I really want to come inside, I will," future Timara told us with a devious grin before shoving her entire arm through the barrier itself. She let out her sinister laugh again as a few people screamed, getting up from where they were sitting to move back away from her as far as they could. She pulled her arm back and dropped it down at her side before saying, "Now you know better than to act so secure in your false knowledge. You've been warned, lowly humans. I must now bid you all farewell so that I may go torture my 'brother' some more."

With that, she whipped around quick enough that her white hair flipped over her shoulder to reveal the huge X shaped scar over what used to be her Fairy Tail mark as she walked away, giving another laugh at the gasps of shock from the guild. I heard a shout and turned to see Lucy dragging a cowering future version of herself out from behind a huge pillar. She looked so afraid, shaking heavily still just from the sight of living nightmare walking up to the door. I knew it would be a while before she spoke to anyone and everyone seemed to gaze at me in disbelief. It had been their first time seeing my future version and the shock value was taking a long time to wear off for them.

"Why does she have to be so evil?" I heard Gray ask, seeing him out of the corner of my eye and he looked a bit shaken.

"Better question would be why aren't I," I told him, giving him a bit of a glare to shut him up.

"She can get in…" I heard future Lucy's shaky voice as silence fell again. "If she can get in, then things don't look so good for us."

"She might be able to get in, but she won't," I told her. "What she did just now was a scare tactic. She has an addiction for fear and she gets her fix by frightening people. She can sense it and that's exactly why she does this."

"I wish she'd just stop that," Natsu said. "Now's a good time to talk about what we should do to protect both versions of Lucy, don't you think?"

"Don't really want to, but if I must…" I sighed, hiding a smile.

He elbowed me in the ribs on purpose before saying, "Be serious now. This is kind of important."

Makarov still looked a bit shaken up when I called for everyone's attention, hopping up on the stage as Ty flew over to me to land on my shoulder. Natsu followed me up there with Happy and we both looked down onto everyone. "Ok, here's the deal. We still have two bloodthirsty maniacs out there, one that has already shown up to instill fear in us. Don't let her because that's exactly what she wants. What we need to discuss is what to do with our Lucy and her future version. Both of them seem to have death threats hanging over their heads."

"We could have a few stronger wizards look after them," Erza suggested. "Then the rest can go try to keep those freaks busy while they are placed into hiding."

"Why can't we just have Mira control future Timara if she's so close to being a demon?" I heard Gray ask. "It would solve all of our problems and then we'd only have one person to deal with."

"I can't control her," Mira said sadly. "Even if she is demonic, she's still a Dragon Slayer. There is no way I can use my Magic on her like that."

"Guys, I think we need to figure this out quick," our Lucy said nervously, standing at the edge of the crowd near the door. "I'm pretty sure I just saw two sets of eyes flash in the light from two separate shadowy corners."

"Great, she didn't even leave," I mumbled to myself. I let my outfit shift into the full body suit covered in blue black scales. I pulled the hood over my head, revealing the royal blue Fairy Tail mark between where my shoulder blades were, and made sure it covered my eyes. The good thing about the hood was that it still allowed for me to see since it was a little thin in that area. "I suppose it's time I created a diversion. Natsu, form a team to take both Lucys away and hide them. I'll find you guys later. The rest of you can do what you want, just stay out of my way."

"I'm not letting you fight both of them alone!" Natsu yelled, glaring at me angrily. "You're crazy if you think I will!"

"It's not like they can kill me!" I yelled back, baring my fangs at him in a snarl. "Future me won't let her brother kill me or she'll die! She has no choice but to protect me if it looks like I might die!"

"I don't care! I don't want them hurting you!"

"He's right, Timara," I heard Makarov say. "I will not allow you to leave here unless Natsu goes with you to fight them."

I wasn't a happy person with his words, but I let out a growl and nodded. It was decided that the rest of the guild would form a huge circle and escort both Lucys outside while Natsu and I kept the enemies at bay. I was growling the entire time, only stopping long enough to hug Saphira and Ty tightly. Neither of them looked happy to be leaving and I told Payne and Makarov to keep a close eye on them in case they tried to sneak back. I walked outside the barrier with Natsu at my side, Happy staying with the rest of the group as well, and moved to the center of the courtyard. The barrier was adjusted by Levy and Freed so that none of our Magic attacks would destroy the guild hall. I saw the shadowy corners near the wall shudder as our two opponents appeared. I saw them both glare at each other before moving to stand in front of us.

"Aww, did you guys finally make up?" I asked with a laugh, hoping to goad them into fighting.

"Of course not," future me huffed, looking offended. "I would never make up with this lowlife. I would much rather slit his throat and then mine before ever doing that."

"You're an evil bitch, you know that?" future Rogue growled at her. She had definitely tormented him enough that he was losing his cold demeanor. I could see that he was barely hanging onto his own sanity by a thread and she was taking her time in severing it so that she could enjoy every last second.

"Call me that again and I will tell you every last detail in how I killed Yukino," she said as her eyes gleamed madly. "I know whose name she screamed for over and over before I finally killed her."

Future Rogue let out an anguished yell before launching shadows in my direction, forming it into a blade in midair. I was about to intercept it when a huge fireball appeared out of nowhere to stop it. Natsu now looked livid as a chilling growl escaped him, looking even angrier than when he found out I was dying. Future Rogue took an involuntary step backwards before he even knew what he was doing, then stood his ground when he caught himself. His sister just watched the whole thing with an amused grin on her face.

"Did you just try to kill my wife?" Natsu growled, his fists erupting into wild flames.

"If that's how I have to kill my sister, then so be it," future Rogue growled back.

"This proves that you are nowhere _near_ strong enough to kill me a second time. It also proves that the first time was a fluke," future Timara said gleefully.

Future Rogue charged at his sister with gargled noise of outrage only to be intercepted by a furious Natsu, who hit him as hard as he could and sent him flying across the courtyard. Future Timara rushed at me as I let two scales on top of each hand lengthen into huge spikes that were about a foot long and that curved a little to look almost like a Dragon's talons. I slashed at her, tearing the skin on her left arm to ribbons where the claws connected. She stopped for a brief second to look down at her injured arm, shock evident on her face before she rushed at me again. Every time my claws cut her, she healed up within a few seconds and seemed very smug about it the entire time. I, on the other hand, had slash marks everywhere. I had a few on my left side that stung with each move I made, three on my cheek, and a couple over my right hip. I used my Blood Magic to keep myself from losing too much, found an opening in her attacks, and slid my claws through her ribs to puncture her heart. She gasped in shock before giving me a grin.

"Pathetic," future me said as her eyes shifted white. "None of those shadow attacks will hurt me. I'm just playing with you and you haven't even noticed."

With a few calm steps back, she pulled herself free from the claws and the hole in her chest healed. I looked behind her to see the huge group of Fairy Tail sneaking outside and into the town already even though I didn't remember seeing them walk out the door. We were about to clash again when we heard twin shouts, looking over to see Natsu and future Rogue enter their respective Dragon Modes. A few years ago, Natsu had eaten some of Laxus' lightning during a huge fight and just like then, he went into Lightning Flame Dragon Mode while Rogue went into White Shadow Dragon Mode. For some reason, I felt slightly envious of them for having that ability but that all went away when they clashed together.

"I can see your thoughts written all over your face," future me said with a soft laugh. "You wish you had a Dragon Mode for yourself. But the thing is that you do have one. Actually, you have quite a few that can merge into a specific powerful one."

"How can that be?" I asked her, seeing that she looked almost normal for the first time since she first appeared before me.

"The Etherion still running rampant in your body," she said simply. "You can separate the elements within Etherion to merge with your Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic. If you want even more power than that, just merge Etherion into your Magic and you'll be unstoppable. Of course, there is a good chance that if you use too much Etherion, it will just take you into Dragon Force so act accordingly."

"I don't understand why you are telling me all of this," I said with a growl, turning to look at her and away from the fight in front of us.

"Consider it a reward for all the hell I've put you through," she said with a grin before it turned demented. I saw dark flames spark at her fingertips before licking up her arms, completely covering her within seconds and I took a step back. She looked like a fire demon now and it looked even more intimidating with those colorless eyes. "This one is called Flame Shadow Dragon Mode. Thanks to my immortal power, it's that much stronger."

Before I could do anything, whether it was say something nasty or fight her to prove a point, all of that left my mind when I heard agonized screaming that tore at my heartstrings. I recognized the screams instantly, knowing without looking that they belonged to Natsu. There was a deep X shaped cut on his left side that he was trying to hold together with one hand, blood pouring from it faster than I liked. He looked extremely pale from blood loss but he didn't seem to care as he was being sliced into by thin beams of light and shadows. I tried to rush to him when future Timara grabbed me by the wrist, her hand burning my skin and making me hiss in pain.

"No no, don't you run to him just yet," she said quietly. "I can't have you accidentally getting killed when my brother isn't finished with his attack. If you die, _I_ die and I don't plan on leaving the world of the living just yet."

"LET GO OF ME!" I screamed, feeling a burning in my veins that felt like lava and I glared at her with a determination that I had only felt once before.

She just stared at me for a few seconds as if remembering that determination for herself. She let me go just as her brother stopped his attack on Natsu. I didn't even see future Rogue move to me but the next thing I knew was that I was flat on the ground with a stinging pain on my head where I smashed it on a rock. Judging by how woozy I felt, I knew that I must have had a concussion. I heard Natsu yell weakly and looked over to see him collapsed on the ground as well. I felt the edge of a sword against my neck and I let out a hiss, knowing that future Rogue was the one behind it.

"Don't you dare," I heard future me say in a low voice that threatened bloody murder.

"So, tell me," her brother said in that same low voice that was just as lethal, his rage thinly veiled by a façade of calmness. "How did you kill Yukino again? Tell me every last detail and I'll spare your life."

Natsu called out my name again, stretching out his hand in my direction while keeping the other pressed against his wound. I stretched my hand out to him as well while the fiery demon spoke up in a chilling voice. "She led everyone outside of Sabertooth's guild hall after I started to burn it to the ground. I saw them leaving, running in fear and I just loved the smell of it. I started picking them off one by one as they ran away, the fear getting stronger until Yukino was left. When she tripped trying to get away from me, I placed shadowy binds around her wrists and ankles to keep her on the ground. Forming claws, I made shallow cuts on her back, going scratching deeper into her skin until I hit her spine. With every cut, she didn't plead for her life, but instead just your name. I laughed and told her that you wouldn't be coming to save her because I clawed your eye out and you were still recovering. She died knowing you wouldn't be there and I watched her cry for you one last time before the life bled from her."

I felt something wet drip down onto my arms and looked up to see the future Rogue was actually crying a little. The first true emotion he must have felt since losing Frosch and I could feel a wave of fear at her words. She was slowly breaking him down, tearing his spirit to shreds bit by bit until there would be nothing left. He took a step back as she moved forward, making me hiss in pain as the sword sliced into my neck. He knew now the monster he created that fateful day and he realized that all she wanted to do now was avenge the life she had before, to destroy him in every way imaginable like he did to her. He instantly slid down into his own shadow and retreated as fast as he could, leaving his monster behind him.

"It won't be long now," I heard her quietly say as my vision faded in and out from the concussion, the laughter evident in her voice as she watched him go. "Soon enough, I'll break him down until he's just like me. He'll be nothing more than a shadow of what he used to be, all his goals for world domination gone, leaving him weak and vulnerable… and that is when I will kill him."

She patted me on the head and took her leave, whistling some tune to herself before disappearing without a trace. I knew I had a bump on my head that throbbed painfully with a concussion to complement it, a bad burn in the shape of a hand on my left wrist, and a bunch of slashes all over my body. None of this compared to the wounds Natsu sustained. I did my best to crawl towards him on my stomach, my head hurting with every movement, and I finally made it to him. He was unconscious now that the threat was gone and he was still bleeding although slowly, which meant he had already lost a great deal of blood. I did the only thing I could think to do, even though I had never tried doing this on another person before, and that was use my Blood Magic on him. Pressing my hands against the huge gash on his left side, I forced his blood to continue circulating throughout his body normally, reaching the injury long enough to move back inside to circulate some more. I used my shadows to form a bandage, hoping I could hold both of those with my concussion. I stood up and immediately crashed back down onto the ground with a grunt.

"No…" I growled, dragging myself to my feet again. "I have to… get away…"

I used what was left of the strength within me and pulled Natsu to his feet long enough to throw his arm around my shoulder and my arm around his waist. I dragged him along with shaky steps, panting heavily as I moved and hoping that everyone Fairy Tail wasn't too far away. When I made it down a few alleys as I tracked them down, I saw future Lucy waiting for me and beckoning me to follow. I wasn't sure how she had escaped everyone, but I wasn't going to question it as I tried to hurry.

"This way!" she hissed to me. "Gray and Erza are just up ahead! They're here to help you both!"

I felt a wave of relief that was short lived as future Timara appeared from the shadows of the alley behind her. I tried to scream to her and warn this Lucy, but it was too late. The demonic woman behind her sank her teeth into future Lucy's throat, tearing her neck just enough so that blood spurted everywhere within seconds. She looked so surprised by this development, even when she fell to the ground in her own pool of blood. My opposite stood up tall and wiped the blood from her mouth with a grin, giving me a look at the same time while I glared the best I could with tears streaming down my face.

"How could you do that…?" I gritted out, grinding my teeth together with my rage and clearing my vision fleetingly.

"Easily," she said simply. "Just bite and tear. There's nothing to it. Now, one down, one to go…"

She left as quickly as she appeared and I barely even noticed that I was screaming until I heard running coming closer. I didn't need to look to know that it was Erza and Gray as I sank to the ground, my strength leaving me as Natsu and I collapsed in a heap. I wasn't even able to keep my eyes open any longer, just barely able to notice that Gray had picked me up in his arms to carry me as Erza grabbed Natsu like I had. I just couldn't believe that the one person who had given us a glimmer of hope that we could beat these two was now gone before my very eyes. I let out another scream that I figured Gray would yell at me for, but he didn't once complain as my scream ended with a whimper. I was slowly feeling my conscious mind slipping into the darkness of exhaustion even though I tried to fight it but I somehow rallied a tiny bit of strength left to hold on until I heard Wendy nearby. I passed out as I heard her healing Natsu and whimpered one last time as the darkness pulled me under.

* * *

Opening my eyes a little, all I see is a wall of dark clouds as rain slowly falls from them, the occasional bolt of lightning lighting everything up on this grassy plain within miles. I pulled myself to my feet and knew instantly that I was in a dream. For the first time in a while, I felt no apprehension of any kind when I came to this realization, which meant that no one had forced a nightmare upon me. I let out a small laugh as I extended my hands to feel the rain drop down on them and felt lighthearted even though it had been a long time since I had felt that way. There was a deep familiar roar from up in the clouds and I turned my gaze to them just in time to see an enormous shadow diving down to land on a grassy hill not far away from me. Looking like a bulked up version of my Dragon form, I knew instantly from the glowing crimson eyes and red markings up and down his sides that this was Skiadrum. Feeling just like a little kid, I sprinted to him with tears of joy sliding down my cheeks, jumping up to hug his nose the best I could when he leaned his head down to put him at my level.

"Skiadrum, it's you!" I cried happily, not caring that this was only a dream.

I heard his rumbling laughter before he said, "You are correct, little one. After all you've been through, I figured that it was time to give you some happiness, too, or you will eventually burn out."

"Don't worry about me," I told him. "I can take care of myself."

"Yes, but that isn't what I'm worried about," he said as he lightly shook his head to make me fall off to the ground. "I have heard about the things that are supposed to transpire in the future. I have seen what both of my children will eventually turn into and I felt saddened by this."

I took a couple steps back and whispered, "You're not here right now because you blame me for what happens, right?"

"Of course not, child. I am here to tell you to stop blaming yourself. You might think you have to be a demon deep down to turn as evil as she is, but you are not at all like her. Intense grief changes people, but the future is not set in stone like you might think. The future is like the ocean, always changing and shifting around. You have a chance to stop the dark future you see before you so long as you are willing to change it."

"I am willing," I told him determinedly. "I never want to turn into that demon."

"Good girl," he said with a smile. "I want you to know that in exactly one year's time, Rogue will lose Frosch to the Dark Guild and this entire mess starts. Make sure that you are there to stop that Dark Guild with him and you should be fine."

Skiadrum and the rest of our surroundings seemed to be fading now, sending waves of sadness crashing through me. "Wait, Skiadrum!" I called out to him. "What should I do about the fact that I'm dying? Is there some way to stop it?"

The great Shadow Dragon tilted his head to the side as he thought about it, then said, "There is a way. Use whatever is left of Etherion within you. Allow it to change your Magic and it will make you stronger than ever before. You will be able to do unimaginable things and defeat both of your enemies easily."

"Thank you… father," I said softly and saw his eyes glow affectionately.

"Never forget that I am watching over you and your brother. Right now, I could never ask for better children. I will also watch over your little family, which I have grown to love just as much as the both of you. Farewell, little one…"

His words faded with him, making everything go white as I felt my eyes slowly close. Tears slid down my cheeks once more as a feeling of longing swept through me, one that I knew meant I would miss him terribly as I was pulled back to sleep for a little while longer.


	16. Restoration

**Hello, everyone! Sorry it took so long to write another chapter, but I started college recently and that takes up quite a lot of time even though I only have three classes total. Anyway, this chapter is a rather mild one to say the least. Nothing really crazy happens yet, but I promise it will very soon. Something very interesting will be brought up for the next chapter and I think you'll all love that. Enjoy the latest chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 16: Restoration**

I opened my eyes to see a bright light, cringing away from it instantly and flipping over onto my stomach to avoid it entirely. I could hear a tiny laugh and tilted my head just right to see Wendy, Carla, and Ty watching me. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked up again to see that we were in Porlyusica's house. I was awfully confused as to what I was doing here, but I figured that this must be where Fairy Tail was hiding out for now.

"How do you feel?" Wendy asked as she stood up, walking over to place her hand on my forehead. There was a tingle from her Magic as she checked my pain levels and I closed my eyes.

"I'm fine," I told her simply.

"That's a lie," Wendy said before poking me on the head where I hit the rock and making a sharp pain echo through my mind with enough force to make the edges of my vision darken. I groaned from the pain before Wendy said, "You're still hurt and you know it."

I lifted a hand to bump on my head and felt a bandage, so Wendy must have wrapped one around my head to stop it if it was still bleeding. When I pulled my hand back, I saw thick bandages around my hand and wrist where I had been burned. The uniform I had on had been replaced with a simple white tank top and shorts and I pulled them away from my skin a little to see even more bandages. I sighed and thought that I had really been put through the wringer.

"Don't touch your head too much or it'll bleed some more," she said. "It might make you fall unconscious if you hit it again, so be careful. I haven't had a whole lot of time to heal you or Natsu since my Magic isn't that strong. Just healing the wound on his side so that it wouldn't kill him was difficult enough. I had just enough Magic to make sure that neither of you would die."

"I'll be fine, Wendy," I told her, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder comfortingly. "Where is Natsu?"

"He's unconscious in a separate room," she told me. "He's sleeping off the blood loss."

I was instantly on my feet and nearly fell as the concussion made me dizzy. Wendy steadied me for a few seconds until I caught my balance and I grabbed Ty as she jumped up into my arms. I took a few hesitant steps before heading over towards the door with Wendy and Carla following behind me. I checked the room next to mine and finally found him, Saphira and Nari curled up in the bed beside him where they were all asleep. I saw Payne in a chair closest to the side that Saphira was sleeping on. I walked over to the other side where there was another chair waiting and sat down with a sigh. I heard a grumble as Natsu turned over onto his right side a little and stretched his hand out in my direction. I smiled a bit and took his hand, feeling comforted by his warmth.

"Once I can get my Magic back entirely, I'll heal you both," Wendy said quietly with a bright smile.

"I want for you to heal him first," I told her. "My injuries are nearly as serious as his and I can wait. It won't kill me to hold out a bit longer."

She nodded and left the room with Carla in her arms. As Ty stretched out on my lap, I heard Payne make a frustrated noise. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Dragneel," he said quietly. "I've been angry with you and despising the very ground you walk on. I didn't know what was really going on with you and I feel bad about being so mad."

I knew it took a lot of guts to admit that and I looked over at him, seeing his nervous expression as I watched him. I gave him a smile and said, "It's fine, Payne. I understand that you were angry because I hurt Saphira's feelings. I've hurt everyone's feelings by keeping that a secret. Now, if you call me Mrs. Dragneel one more time, I'll be forced to boot you out of the door and you know I mean that literally."

He grinned back sheepishly but remained silent after that, keeping his gaze locked on his sleeping friend. I was quite certain that something more might develop between the two of them one day in the future, whether they realized it sooner or later would be up to them. I was going to have to create a betting pool later in life. I heard Natsu grumble again, pulling my hand close so it was flat against his chest. I could feel his heart beating strongly beneath the palm of my hand as I moved the chair even closer. Even though I didn't want to, I felt myself being lulled into a bit of a trance, staring at the wall blankly as I made sure not to fall asleep.

A full day had passed and I was alone in the room with Natsu, our partners, Saphira, and Payne had all left a while ago to sleep and I still refused to do so. It was night time again and I was looking up at the window, watching the stars flickering and the moon that was as huge as a saucer. I remembered a few times where I had done this very thing, hoping that the stars would provide me with an answer to the problems I was having and giving me the answer I so craved later on. I was about to get up to move closer to the window when I felt a wave of exhaustion sweep through me. Even though I had told myself that I wasn't going to be asleep for when Natsu finally wakes up, my body didn't care about my protests and I laid my head down on the mattress as my eyes slid shut.

I blearily opened my eyes and felt a hand that was gently stroking my hair, carefully avoiding the bump that still hurt on my head. With a tired noise, I tilted my head back just enough to see him looking down at me. I didn't remember it happening, but I somehow made it on the bed and was now lying next to him. When I gave him a suspicious look, he gave me a grin that told me everything I needed to know.

"You were sleeping when I woke up and it looked uncomfortable, so I pulled you up here with me. Hope you don't mind."

Since he was naked from the waist up with his scarf still tied on tightly around his neck, I could see all the bandages wrapped around him. He had enough on him that almost looked like a long sleeved shirt made entirely from bandages. I looked down a little and saw a fresh blooming of red on his side where his bad injury was and I glared up at him. He flinched a little and grinned at me again.

"You idiot," I told him. "You just made that injury of yours bleed even more."

"It wasn't caused from moving you onto the bed, I swear," he said before lightly brushing his fingertips against the bump on my head and making me grimace as it prickled with pain. "How's your head feeling? There's nothing seriously wrong with you, right?"

"I've got a nasty concussion due to the fact that I decided that landing headfirst on a rock was a great decision," I said flatly. "Other than that, my wrist is burned, I've got various cuts and bruises, and that's about it. I actually came in here with fewer injuries than you for once. That was a shocker."

"No kidding. You're usually on your deathbed while I get away with almost no injuries whatsoever. I always took it as a sign that I was a better fighter than you."

"That's the blood loss talking," I grumbled. "I just have zero regards for my own life and I'm the most reckless person ever, depending on the situation."

I watched his expressions shift until he was very serious, grabbing a lock of my hair to roll between his fingers as I watched his thoughts make his face darken gravely. "We need a plan," he softly. "In fact, we need a miracle if we plan to beat them both. Hopefully one of them will take out the other and we'll only have to deal with one person. I don't think we can take them both."

"I've got an idea, but you won't like it," I whispered as I looked down at the mattress and avoided eye contact with him. "It will ensure that you only have to fight future Rogue."

Natsu was about to ask what sort of plan I had in mind when he saw the dead, hollow look to my eyes and figured it out quickly. He let go of my hair, placed his hands on either side of my face to tilt my head back so I could see him, and made me look him in the eyes. He looked livid now, his eyes burning darkly as he let out a growl. I let him glare at me and I didn't bother flinching once.

"I know what you're thinking," he said to me. "You will _not_ end your life just to stop your future version or to give us a better chance to stop her brother. I won't let you do that so long as I'm alive because you are important to me. So if you think you can just step out of my life, our daughter's life, your own _partner's_ life, and the lives of everyone in Fairy Tail so easily, then you are gravely mistaken. We care about you and we will never trade your life for any reason."

He let go of my face to wrap his arms around me, pulling me close quickly and making me gasp in surprise. He tangled his fingers in my hair near the nape of my neck as he held me close enough so that my face was pressed against his chest. His other hand rubbed my back comfortingly as tears welled up in my eyes. I didn't feel as if I deserved such kindness after seeing all that I would eventually do in the future, but then I remembered Skiadrum's words from the dream. The future version of me wasn't actually me yet. Fate is a fluid concept that can be changed if you try hard enough. I knew that this was definitely something I had to fight for and I planned on making sure this never happened to me. I couldn't bear to live through all the things that happened to the future me. A vague plan started to form in my head as we both slowly fell asleep.

I woke up a few hours later just before dawn, still wrapped up in Natsu's arms. Now was the time to put my plan into motion. Now was the time to finally use Etherion, or what was left of it within my body. I had to allow it to change me, which meant I had to start using it as much as possible. With an almost inaudible sigh, I wriggled my way from his arms and snuck out of the room entirely. My blood burned as I shifted into my shadow form so I could silently leave Porlyusica's house and head out into the deep end of the forest. I leapt up into the tree branches ran along until I reached a large clearing in the middle of the woods and jumped down onto the grass. I sighed a little as I felt the Magic within me well up from the depths of my mind, almost as if the Etherion was excited to be let out finally. In fact, tiny wisps of light that let off a deep warmth and crackled like sparks from lightning rolled over me like a wave of water. The next second it felt cold like ice as a sudden breeze picked up while shadows suddenly appeared. It's the separate elements making their presences known, I thought to myself with a laugh as the light began to mix with darkness and the other elements combined as well.

"What to do, what to do…" I said to myself quietly as I tilted my head to the side, thinking about what I should do next.

I decided on a whim to create a Dragon that was my size, one that wouldn't trample me should it move. There was a huge explosion of light that sent a bolt of pain crashing through me for a few seconds before my body felt lighter. Once the blinding light disappeared, I blinked my eyes to see a primarily white Dragon that looked like it was made from glass before me, different colors from each element appearing in its scales in various spots. I stared at it in awe for a while before it folded its front legs and moved into a bow. What surprised me most was the fact that it started to do all of this without me even commanding it, going so far as to speak and making me jump in shock.

"I thought you'd never use me," it said in an ancient voice. "I am Etherion. I am commandeering this form for now to converse with you."

"I don't understand," I whispered. "How… how is this even possible?"

"You don't need to comprehend the situation," it said sternly, surprising me even more. "All I require for you to realize is that I am here for a specific purpose and that is to inform you that you have made the right decision in using me. I am the answer that the stars provided for you when you wished upon them. I am your last hope, your safe haven, and the power needed to make your every dream come true, whether it's to protect the ones you love or to ascend to the highest heavens."

"If I do keep using this Magic," I started to say hesitantly before carrying on, "will it stop me from dying early?"

The Dragon nodded slowly before saying, "You will die at the time you are fated to and no sooner or later. There is no need to be apprehensive about this. You will also not go into a Magic overload like the first time you used me. Practice and you will have total control."

"What is this change I'm supposed to go through while using Etherion?"

"It's a similar process to unlocking your Second Origin," the glass-like Dragon told me.

The Dragon refused to say anything more on the subject, allowing its body to disintegrate within the air and leaving me with more questions than answers. I let out a frustrated groan before deciding to keep up with training by using Etherion. Two hours had passed and I was lying on the grass with a huge grin on my face, sweating and breathing heavily from all the Magic I had just used. I had first worked with creating different objects with just Etherion and then working on different attacks. After a bit of a break, I was planning on trying to separate each element from Etherion itself. The first element I would experiment with would be fire since I was so close to it already because I was mated to a Dragon Slayer with an affinity for it.

I lifted an arm up straight in front of me, almost as if I was trying to reach for the sky and touch the clouds from between the leaves. I felt much better now than I had in a long time, like a weight had finally been lifted from my shoulders, and I sighed before forcing my hand into a fist. Break time was over and I tried to filter out the fire element in Etherion. Nothing seemed to draw it out and I was beginning to get angry when I felt a few sparks leap past between my fingers. Next thing I knew there were two figures blocking my sight and I saw that it was Zeref and Natsu looking down at me.

"What is it that you are doing?" Zeref asked me curiously, poking my fist with his index finger and letting a few more sparks fly. In the shadows they were casting over me, I could see that they both looked surprised. "Were those… sparks? Sparks that were the predecessors of fire?"

"That's right," I told him with a nod. "I was told that I could separate the elements within Etherion and stop my untimely death all at the same time."

"So you choose to try and use fire first?" Natsu asked, looking quite pleased. He moved so that he was standing with his feet on either side of me and pulled me up so I was standing in front of him, keeping his hands on my waist and planting a quick kiss on my lips. "I can help you with that."

"Oh, would you?" I asked excitedly, bouncing on my toes and I could practically see my eyes shining in the reflection of Natsu's. "So far I have to get angry to get the fire to separate but I can only get a few sparks."

"That's probably not the best way to do it," he laughed. "At least, not for a beginner. Getting angry will only make it wild and it's best to control it now since fire is so savage compared to the other elements."

"So… try to be one with the fire first?"

"Yep, that sums it up nicely."

He looked over at Zeref, who was observing us closely like a scientist would, and nodded his head in the direction of Porlyusica's house, signaling that we needed some alone time to practice. The Black Wizard sighed before saying, "If I must… I'm kind of curious to see what you're going to do next but fine."

When he was finally out of sight, I asked, "Why'd you send him away?"

"Easy answer," Natsu said with a smile. "You never ask me for help with Magic, so I'm taking advantage of this moment."

I smacked him hard on the chest and made him laugh loudly. "Gimme a real answer, will ya? None of this teasing crap you like giving me."

"Fine, it's because I figured you'd be able to concentrate on this if I minimize the amount of people here with us."

"Wow, that's actually kind of… smart."

"I'm not stupid, you know," he huffed and turned away from me, his back facing my direction now and I knew I struck a nerve. "If that's how it's going to be, you can figure it out on your own."

"Sorry, sorry," I said, trying not to laugh. "You're right, you are veeeeeeeeeeeery smart, Natsu, and I need your help. I can't do this without you, so will you please assist me in this?"

He obviously didn't hear the joking tone I had in my voice or he just ignored it, but either way he turned back around with a huge victorious grin on his face. "I knew you'd see reason. Now remember, you have to be one with the fire in you. Just try to picture all the characteristics the flames have and imagine them in the palm of your hand. Once you have that down, it should come naturally and you won't have to picture it at all after a few tries!"

"This sounds familiar," I said as I sat down, sitting cross legged so that I could place my cupped hands on my legs. "Almost like how I was trying to teach you, Wendy, and Gajeel how to create a ball of Magic."

"It's almost like that," he told me as he sat down opposite of me. "It will just be a bit different since this isn't your normal Magic that you're used to."

"And I can't entirely mix my shadows in it either, so that's no fun for me."

If he said anything else, I didn't hear it as I closed my eyes and began to concentrate on the task at hand. Natsu said to imagine everything that made up a fire, from the looks of it down to the sounds. I had a feeling that I had to do things my way and picture them the way it reminded me of flames. At first, a campfire came to mind but I shook my head slightly because I knew it wasn't a strong enough memory for it to work. Campfires were more for my shadows since there were always many shadows dancing around the fire. Then my thoughts drifted to Natsu and his Magic.

I could never think of fire and not think of Natsu, the two of them one and the same and never to be separated. Whenever he used his Magic, he would always have this childlike gleam in his eyes, no matter what situation he was in. His Magic was also a connection with Igneel and that was something that was very important to him. His fires were always unique, ranging from the strength of a raging inferno or to the laziness of campfire. The comforting crackling noises always found a way to calm me, just like the flickering light it gave off. The scent it gave off was the one that always lingered on Natsu, a smoky burn that was also semisweet. I heard a soft snap and also a light warmth in the palm of my hands before finally opening my eyes to see that I had a small fireball burning there just above my skin, a tiny blue black ember at the very heart of it while the whole thing levitated a few inches.

"It's almost like mine," Natsu said softly. "You know, except for the tiny bit of your Magic that you leaked into it. You weren't supposed to do that."

"I just think it's a color choice, not my Magic making an appearance," I told him. "Be thankful that the whole thing isn't blue black."

No sooner that I spoke up was I showed up by my Magic. The color instantly changed from an orange-red to blue black that still gave off heat like before. No matter what I did, the fire wouldn't change back to its first color, but it did lighten up just enough so that you could tell that it wasn't a product of my Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic. I sighed and knew that it was the best I was going to do under the circumstances. Still, I was incredibly proud of what I had done and knew deep down that separating the elements in Etherion was definitely a possibility for me.

I played around with the other elements after that, all of them starting out normal with just a hint of blue black in the center before it was completely taken over by that color. I could only laugh now at the circumstances while Natsu was mystified at how I could be so amused by it. With a devious grin, I sent a large stream of blue black water directly at him and soaking him in seconds. I was on my feet in seconds and ran off when Natsu growled while getting up himself. I shrieked as I ran away from him, leading him on a merry chase around the entire perimeter of the clearing. I eventually tired him out enough so that he was hunched over and panting heavily.

"I'm so glad you think this is funny!" he yelled at me, glaring a little as he looked up in my direction.

"Oh, I don't just think it's funny," I told him with a grin. "I find it hilarious!"

"You are _really_ not making things any easier!"

"I never do," I said. "I have an idea that I think you might like though."

"Oh, yeah?" he asked, straightening up now that he had caught his breath. "And what's this idea of yours?"

"It's simple. I want you to fight me."

He grinned a bit before saying, "That I can do."

"But I don't want you to hold back!" I said with an evil smile as I took a step back. "I want you to use all that you've got against me and not worry about if I get hurt!"

That seemed to stop him in his tracks. "Not sure if I like this idea anymore," he said with a suspicious look. "What if I hurt you really bad?"

"You won't," I told him. "I won't hold back either! We can finally see who is the strongest!"

"I know what you're doing, Timara," he said with a growl. "You're trying to con me into this by saying all the things that would normally get me to fight someone. Well, it's not going to work!"

"Is it because I still have the concussion and that you aren't fully healed yet?" I asked, pouting a little. "I can still wait until tomorrow before we fight!"

He groaned in exasperation with me. "Will it get you off my back about this fight?"

"What in the world is with you today?!" I yelled, grinning even more. "You normally tear off to fight someone every day! More so with Gray than anyone else!"

"But you aren't Gray and I love you!" he yelled back. "Fighting beside you is one thing but fighting against you is another, especially if you want us to fight with everything we've got!"

"Please, Natsu?" I asked, walking closer to him to hug him tightly.

I heard him sigh and he tried to hold out for as long as he could to say no, but he eventually gave in because he was secretly excited for a fight as well. "Fine," he grumbled, "but I have a few conditions first. We'll do it tomorrow after we both are healed up by Wendy. When we fight later, we start off slow so we know our limits, that way we don't accidentally kill each other or we hurt one another badly. Then once we know this, we can fight all out. Sound like a deal?"

"I suppose…" I told him, laughing a little.

He grabbed me by the chin, tilted my head back, and kissed me. Pulling away a little and grabbing me by the hand, sliding his fingers between mine, he led me back to Porlyusica's house where Wendy and Carla were already waiting for us. She scolded us for leaving the area, but I couldn't take her seriously with the thoughts of the fight dancing in my head. Once she was finished healing us both, I checked Natsu's side to check that his bad injury was really gone and gave him a smile. Finally, we were ready for a battle of epic proportions.

* * *

**XxXxX**

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What I had learned throughout all of my years was that no one ever seemed to look up. I grinned, pushing my black sunglasses up further on my nose as I dangled my feet down from the high branch I was on. Out of boredom, I sliced the palm of my hand with a shadowy claw and dabbed the blood on a finger before staining my toenails red with it. I made sure to avoid touching my see through sarong dress with the blood because it would seep through to the white bikini. Once I was done, I licked my hand to stop the bleeding and looked down to see a bit of a commotion. Tilting my head to the side and concentrating on listening in with my excellent Dragon Slayer hearing, I heard what they were saying.

"Hey, did you hear?" a voice that belonged to Gray asked. "Natsu and Timara are going to fight tomorrow!"

"Don't spread rumors that aren't true, Gray," Erza said and there was an audible slapping sound. She must have smacked the back of his head hard because he yelped a little in surprise.

"It's not a rumor, it's true!" Gray defended himself. "I overheard them talking while Wendy was healing them! Who do you think will win between the two of them, Erza?"

"You're not dragging me into this childish speculation," she said before walking away.

"Yeah, but I bet you still turn up to watch them both fight!" he yelled after her. I finally decided to look down and watch, my white hair flipping over my shoulder as I lay down on my stomach on the branch. I saw Gray walk over to Elfman and Mira before asking, "Elfman, who do you think will win?"

"I think it's going to be Natsu," Elfman said with a roguish grin. "If he's manly enough to decide to fight her, then he's manly enough to beat her. He's got enough power to do it."

"Mira? What's your opinion?" Gray asked her.

"I don't like picking sides," Mira started to say before she smiled brightly, "but I think this one will be a victory for Timara. She's tricky and sneaky, not to mention speedy. I don't think Natsu will see her coming."

"I've checked with a few other people," Cana said as she walked over to them. "It seems to be split down the middle as to who all thinks will win. I'm putting a betting pool in place so we can all place a wager on who will be the winner."

"It's tragic that I can't bet who I think will win," I said to myself quietly as I shook my head. "I'm almost tempted to force a different outcome to steal all of their money, but I think that I'll let them have their fun for once. They won't be so happy after this, so they better live it up now while they have a chance."

I flipped over onto my back and stretched out like a cat, yawning a little and contemplating sleep. I figured that it would be a bad idea, what with a beyond livid 'brother' out to get me and murder me brutally. Again. I couldn't exactly let him do that yet when I had so much planned for him yet. I wanted to destroy everything that he held dear and watch as the life and hope drained from his eyes before slitting his throat. Or stabbing through his heart from his back. I hadn't really decided on the killing aspect, but I wanted it to be bloody for sure.

"Don't you worry, brother," I said as I closed my eyes to imagine his death by my hands. "The monster always kills the creator last after the deaths of the ones he loves. Fear not, for I am not one to stray from tradition, no matter what may stand in my way."


	17. The Storm

**Hello to all of the pleasant people who read this story! I apologize once more for having taken so long to write this chapter. I am usually good about having a chapter done within a couple days, but college life tends to get in the way with all the homework and studying that needs to be done. Last chapter, a fight was promised between Natsu and Timara and I am happy to announce that it is in this chapter that it shall happen. Also, I decided to add a menacing twist toward the end of the chapter that is rather surprising. Enjoy the latest chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 17: The Storm**

I woke up rather late in the morning to a rather loud commotion outside while Natsu was still unconscious, snoring lightly and rolling over to lay his head on my shoulder. I wriggled out from his hold and got out of bed. I quickly changed into a strapless black dress, the skirt of it going down to just above my knees and made swishing noises while flaring out a bit when the air whipped through it. I formed a scarf from my shadows and wrapped it once around my head to keep my long hair away from my face, tying it at the nape of my neck and letting the rest of the long fabric dangle past my waist. I put on my favorite gladiator styled boots and then pulled my short bangs down from the confines of the scarf before walking over to the bed to wake Natsu, Ty, and Happy.

"Rise and shine!" I yelled loudly, smiling widely as they all jolted awake.

"Too early…" Ty groaned, curling up further in an attempt to go back to sleep.

"Yeah, what the tiger cat said," Natsu said sleepily, throwing an arm over his eyes.

"We need more rest and there's nothing you can do about it!" Happy told me as he leaned his head against Tyger's back.

"I don't think so!" I told them.

I hopped up onto the bed and jumped on the mattress forcefully, giggling the entire time. They had no choice but to give me attention now since every time I jumped, they would be bounced into the air a few inches. I heard even more grumbles and groans of annoyance before Natsu grabbed me, pulling me down onto the mattress while the two cats jumped on me. Natsu pinned me down and started tickling my sides, making me shriek and try to get away. Ty and Happy had twin devious grins on their faces before they jumped on my feet, tickling them the best they could through the pieces cut out of the boots and avoiding my accidental kicks. I managed at one point to grab Natsu's wrists and stop him temporarily, but he shook me off and carried on like nothing had happened. When I was finally forced to the point where I would have to either beg, which I absolutely hated doing, or threaten them all, they simultaneously stopped what they were doing to flop onto their sides in yet another attempt at going back to sleep. I rolled my eyes and leapt out of bed, about to start yelling at them when they actually followed suit.

"What's going on outside?" Ty asked curiously, finally hearing the commotion outside.

"I'm not quite sure," I said pensively. "I suppose it could be that word got out about the fight. Things like this never fail at catching the attention of the guild quickly. If I'm right and this is what everyone is getting excited about, you can expect that there will be a betting pool formed by now."

It didn't take very long to figure out that I was very much right about the betting pool. Cana had a blackboard next to her and a large mug of wine on her other side, taking money from the betters and writing down the tally under our names. None of them even noticed us when we walked out, just fully concentrated on adding more money on the bet. It was almost strange to find a moment of levity when we had much more serious things to worry about, but I wasn't about to tell them to stop it. I would, however, startle them enough to make them think twice.

"Hey!" I yelled, making everyone stop in their tracks and turn to look at us. "What the hell do you all think you're doing?"

"Betting on the fight obviously!" Gray piped up, moving to the front of the crowd to give me an impish grin. "I've already bet a thousand Jewels on you to beat Natsu so badly that he cries like a little girl!"

"Shut up, Ice Princess, or I'll stomp you out right here and now!" Natsu yelled, moving to jump at Gray when I grabbed him by the back of his scarf to keep him in place.

"Don't fight the pervert," I told him. "The only one you get to fight today is me and I don't want it to be so easy a victory because you tired yourself out with him."

"You really think it will be that easy to beat me?" Natsu asked, looking quite mischievous now.

"Of course I do!" I told him with a grin of my own. Pulling a bag of Jewels out from my shadow, I yelled, "Cana, put me down for a thousand! I bet I can win this fight!"

Gray took the bag and handed it to Cana, who smiled and said, "You got it! You just tipped the betting scale in your favor! It's been even the entire time!"

"I'm not letting this stand!" Natsu yelled before pulling a bag of Jewels practically out of nowhere and throwing it to her. "I bet a thousand Jewels on me! She won't stand a chance!"

The commotion went even louder than before as everyone stepped up to bet on us. Even Saphira and Payne went up to bet on us, Saphira looking torn on choosing at all so Payne said he'd bet on one while she bet on the other to make things even. Nari sat silently on her shoulder the entire time, assessing the situation and observing everyone's antics. I didn't see the streak of white moving above us through the boughs of the trees, making its way to the clearing where the fight would be held so it could watch with everyone else.

After a quick breakfast, we made our way over to the clearing with everyone buzzing with excitement over the fight. Ty and Happy flew over to hang out with Saphira, Payne, and Nari, wishing us good luck beforehand and looking every bit as excited as everyone else. There was a loud noise up ahead and I looked up to see that someone was making the clearing larger, pushing the trees safely aside without harming them. I walked to one end of the clearing while Natsu went to the other.

"You know, this is really familiar!" I called over my shoulder to Natsu. "It reminds me of when I finally came back to Fairy Tail the last time and you challenged me to a fight right off the bat!"

"The only difference is that the outcome of the fight will be different this time!" he yelled back with a smile on his face.

I shook my head a little and saw the Makarov was going to be the referee. "I have heard what the rules will be already, but I figured that it would be a good idea to clarify them now before the fight starts!" he yelled so that everyone standing at the perimeter of the clearing could hear. "You can go all out after you both assess each other's abilities, even though you should know them by now. The fight ends when one person is completely out of Magic or the other person is hit with what is defined as a killing blow. No actual killing though, just stop short of the actual blow itself, which you should already know. Does this sound fair?"

"Make it so she can't go into her shadow form!" I heard Gray yell.

"Why don't you come over here and say that again, you Pervy Popsicle!" I yelled back. "I'll use my shadow form if I want to and no one is going to stop me!"

"It's fine, I can beat you while you're in that form anyway!" Natsu called out.

"SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!" Makarov bellowed. "Let the fight BEGIN!"

He took off running to the edge of the clearing just as Natsu used his Crystal Dragon's Roar. Huge spears of crystals flew through the air at me and I used my Magic to dodge them effortlessly, moving so fast that it must have looked like I was teleporting from place to place. I kept moving to get closer to him, sweeping his legs out from under him with a laugh. He got back up on his feet quickly, using his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist fast enough that I only had a few seconds to dodge it. I laughed again as I used Shadow Dragon's Claw, slamming my foot into his back and knocking him forward.

"Quit moving so fast," he growled.

"Where's the fun in that?" I giggled. "I thought you said you could handle it!"

"If you think this is so funny, then I guess I'll just have to level the playing field!"

I didn't understand what he meant by that at first until I saw him readying another Roar, moving out of the way just in time for him to use Crystal Dragon's Roar with liquid crystal. This was dangerous for me because if I was hit with it, I could potentially be frozen into place until he decides to let me go. He aimed for me again and I dodged once more before launching black lightning at him, connecting with his Roar at the same time and making it sizzle out. I was forced to move closer to him to dodge the patches of liquid crystal lying on the grass, which was exactly what Natsu must have planned. I saw a devious glint in his eyes and that clued me in on what he had in store for me.

"Crystal Flame Dragon's Lava Blast!" he yelled before red hot crystalline fire rose up from the ground faster than I expected. It was like molten rubies were jumping up from a crack in the ground, forming a huge wave that would crash down on my head any second. I stomped my foot hard, making my own fissure in the ground as a huge geyser of water erupted to rain down on us.

"Aqua Shadow Dragon's Dark Tsunami!" I yelled as the water behind me tinged black and formed an equally tall wave before it moved forward to crash into the ruby lava.

There was a loud hiss as steam was let out from the two attacks crashing into each other and making the whole field that we were fighting in disappear from sight. I couldn't see where Natsu was and I certainly couldn't shift into the shadows now because it would be a dead giveaway as to where I was standing. I listened carefully until I heard a slight shuffling of feet behind me, diving forward to narrowly miss the slash of a huge weapon. Standing there was Natsu, holding what looked to be sword completely made up from sapphires.

"I figured I might as well beat you with something that is your favorite color," he said with a grin. "It would irritate you more when I tell the story later on in life about how I defeated you."

"I think this is a poor decision on your part since I know how horrible you are with weapons," I told him as I stood up, a smile matching his on my face. Combining fire, earth, and shadows together from Etherion, I formed an obsidian blade of my own. It looked like a dark version of a rainbow and it was lethally sharp.

No longer exchanging words, we clashed together once more with a flash of sparks, our blades coming together quickly and not once letting up. I ducked as his blade went up a little too high, slashing out to nick his arm and making him hiss a little in pain. I moved away but he struck at me, managing to hit my on the back of my shoulder and leaving a shallow wound there. Now that we were even once more, we kept striking at each other and realizing that this was rather pointless since we weren't the types to have weapons in the first place. The entire time I could only laugh because the situation was just comical and I could see that Natsu was laughing as well. We struck out one last time as hard as we could, only to have the blades shatter to pieces and for us to leap apart.

The mist that shrouded the clearing we were in was slowly dissipating and I finally shifted into my shadow form, moving faster than ever toward Natsu and jumping out behind him. What I wasn't expecting was that he was ready for me this time, whipping around with his arm outstretched to try and grab my by the throat to end the fight. I gasped as I flipped backwards, landing lightly on my toes with one hand on the ground to keep me steady as I looked up at him while I crouched on the ground. I guess being with someone for so long meant that they could easily know you better than anyone else, which was how he knew my tricks so well. He also surprised me by being able to move faster than I remembered possible, barely giving me any time to move out of the way as a huge plume of flame zipped past my head.

_I think he's been training to get faster_, I thought to myself. _I guess I'll just have to be equally as surprising to keep up._

I dodged him almost effortlessly as I charged up Etherion within me, watching as my skin began to glow with a bright light that burned like fire and crackled like lightning. I didn't want to use too much of it or I would go into Dragon Force with it, so I combined it with my Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic. Shadows began leaping from me as I dodged another particularly harsh attack that nearly collided with my ribs if I hadn't begun to move faster than I ever had before. With Etherion pushing at the edges of my mind, now I was literally teleporting from spot to spot and driving Natsu crazy. Finally I stopped for the last time since I had just finished charging up my last attack.

"Etherion Shadow Dragon's Roar!" I screamed before letting out a huge beam of powerful light and shadow. I saw surprise and shock in Natsu's eyes before he hit the ground, the back of his clothes looking singed as my attack just barely missed him. He looked dazed for a few seconds and I knew that now was the time to end this. I formed shadowy claws before exhaustion pulled at my mind to let me know that I was almost out of Magic entirely because of my last attack. I ran at him just as he pulled himself together, jumping to his feet when I was a split second away from him.

I attacked him just as he attacked me. I was in disbelief as I realized that I could feel his fingers wrapped around my throat, collaring my neck but not squeezing my breath away. I looked up into his eyes to see that same sense of astonishment, which made me look down a little as I slowly regained my senses. Amazed, I saw that my claws were pressed lightly into his chest just over his heart and this all meant that we had succeeded in making this a tie.

"Are you kidding me…?" Natsu said under his breath, lightly running his thumb along my jaw as he came to same conclusion as me.

"It's probably for the best," I told him with a smile. "Neither one of us are very good at winning or losing. We would probably drive each other crazy within the hour."

"After all the hype of finding out that there would be a fight between Natsu and Timara, it all ended in a tie!" Makarov yelled to the crowd that had been watching this entire time.

"Rematch!" Gray yelled. "Or best two out of three! I had money invested on one winner!"

"Only one person gets the money and that would be Saphira!" Cana yelled over him. "She bet that there would be a tie!"

I saw Payne looking over at my daughter, who had an expression of feigned innocence on her face that was very familiar to me. "When did you bet that?"

"Right after you did," she said sheepishly. "I couldn't choose between my parents and losing the money didn't matter to me." Cana walked over to her and said that she'd give her the money later so she wouldn't have to carry it back by herself. Saphira looked grateful to her and I could only laugh at how great a child she was.

It was then that a sinister laugh could be heard echoing through the trees, instantly putting everyone on edge. A chill ran down my spine as I saw the shadows shiver in the middle of the clearing and rise up from the ground. I could hear a few gasps from everyone who was standing at the edges of the clearing when they saw that it was future me, her white hair blazing white and standing out plainly. What then caught everyone's surprise most was the fact that she wasn't alone. Attempting to struggle enough to escape was Lucy, being held in place by the claws positioned at the back of her neck. Blood trickled down her skin as she grasped at future Timara's clawed hands, trying to pull them free but to no avail.

"Nobody move or blondie here gets it," future Timara said, her white eyes scanning each and every one of our faces. "I have no qualms with tearing out her spine and leaving her here to die. I only have one thing I need to collect and then I'm gone."

"What is it that you want?" I asked, taking a half step forward as Natsu grabbed me by the arm to pull me back.

There was a tearing sound as she reached down, grabbed the pouch at Lucy's belt that was full of her Celestial Spirit Keys, and pulled it free. "All I want are the Keys," she said simply, staring into my eyes expressionlessly.

"You can't have them!" Lucy screamed, thrashing some more only to have the claws at her neck press even further into her skin. She whimpered lightly as more blood began to flow. "They're my friends! You can't just take them!"

"Do you want to die, blondie?" future Timara hissed in her ear angrily. "Because that is what I am trying to prevent."

"Are you now working with your brother?" Natsu growled. "Do you want to steal the Keys so badly because you are a part of his plan to rule the world?"

"No, she could care less about his plan," I told him as I stared down my future version. "She just wants to watch the world burn in her era. However, he wants to kill our Lucy to steal her Keys and she doesn't want to give him the satisfaction of killing her. That's all this is about."

"Looks like I was right after all when I said you and I are the same," she said with an evil grin. "Only someone who can think exactly like I can could figure me out so easily."

"Take the Keys," I told her as Lucy groaned sadly. "We'll just chase after your brother to get them back, which I promise you will happen."

Future Timara shoved Lucy away, holding the Keys victoriously just as I felt a pulling sensation deep in my mind. I gasped as I felt what was left of my Magic being siphoned away and I looked over at Natsu to see that he was also feeling it too, hunched over and holding his head in his hands. I turned my head to see that everyone else had sunk down to the grass and held their heads in pain except for Zeref, who looked confused as he gazed over at Saphira with a look of bewilderment. She was striding over to us and glowing with a bright golden light, Nari standing on her shoulder with her mercurial eyes swirling and violet sparks jumping off of her. The future version of me didn't even see her coming since she was checking the pouch to make sure that all the Golden Keys that Lucy possessed were all there, not once bother to look up until it was too late.

"Fairy Dragon's Roar!" Saphira screamed.

A huge beam of golden light was launched over at the evil version of me, which wasn't like Saphira's normal rainbow Roar that we were all used to. An inhuman scream could be heard but the light was blinding, forcing me to cover my eyes until it was completely gone. When I finally was able to look up, I saw a panting future Timara barely able to stand on her own two feet, holding onto what remained of her left arm. Blood poured down from the stump of her arm that was left as she shook in agony, the pain evident in her eyes as she glared over at the girl still bathed in the golden light.

"My arm…" she whispered ominously as a black shroud began to form around her body.

Her voice began to take on the tone of something dangerous as an ancient Magic pushed its way through her mind. I watched as black slowly bled completely through her normally colorless ones, looking dead and petrifying like staring down into the darkest of abysses. Her arm slowly healed itself, making the shaking even worse now than it had been before. Soon enough, her arm was completely regrown as those dead eyes locked onto the ones belonging to my daughter.

In a voice that was twisted and sounded like it belonged to that of an ancient being, future Timara spoke. "So, we meet at long last, Adira. How long has it been since we last fought each other?"

"Around the turn of the century," a voice that was just as ancient came out from Saphira's lips, one that sounded pleasant and gave off an air of peace and serenity, unlike the other voice that sounded like death running rampant. "It was just after I created life on this planet. You became greedy and thought to take the souls of everyone that lived. You know that is a direct violation of our deal, Deysis."

_Adira and Deysis… One acts like it could be a grim reaper while the other could be an angel_, I thought to myself as Natsu pulled me a little closer to him. I knew that he thought to protect me from them, but I could tell from the power that they were emanating that we could be dead if they so wished it.

"You know I am the embodiment of Death, just like you are the embodiment of Life," the evil voice said. "I was only doing what I was destined to do and that is to take souls. There was no need to seal us both away in the body of the Black Wizard, Zeref."

"It was the only way to make sure you didn't destroy the world," the voice from Saphira's body said as she moved closer, the golden light intensifying even brighter in correspondence to the darkness that was slowly growing with each passing second around her opponent. "Then you had the nerve to possess another human form, to call to her from the body of Zeref before I could stop you, to force her unseal us from him, and then tear her sanity to shreds by forcing your Magic upon her! You have used the human in such despicable ways that I'm not even sure that there is a possible way to fix her!"

"There isn't," Deysis said with a laugh, flipping the white hair dangling down past her shoulder over her back again. "I have her broken down into the perfect weapon and all I had to do was tell her that she had all the power she wanted to get her revenge upon her brother, so long as she did my bidding and destroys the world for me!"

"You're using her to get what you want!" Adira screamed, a rage that had the power of a thousand suns burning through her washed over us all, hitting us with a wave of heat that was uncomfortable to everyone except for Deysis in future Timara's body. She screamed in anguish as her skin began to burn, a fury of her own finally burning through those dead eyes. "Well, look at that… You aren't capable of feeling any kind of emotion since you are too cold, which means that anger doesn't belong to you. It looks like your 'weapon' is fighting to take over control. I guess you don't have such a tight hold over her as you thought you did."

"She's stubborn and doesn't see reason," Deysis said, flinching a little as the person she was possessing fought to be free, to come out onto the surface and fight on her own. "She doesn't see that I am much stronger than her and hasn't given her all of my powers for a reason."

"And yet she's already come so close to the surface. I will make you one last deal. Do not appear like this again. Let them all fight for themselves and deal with the situation at hand on their own. I will stick to the same idea and not show myself either. The moment you break free again, I will be forced to destroy you like I should have done years ago."

"Too bad you can't kill Death or your whole world will crumble beneath you," Deysis taunted before shifting to the back of future Timara's mind, her eyes slowly leaching away the black and returning to its usual white color. She shook her head, gave Saphira a look of outrage as Adira bled away as well, and then took the Keys still in her hand before diving down into the shadows without a second thought.

I heard Natsu move as Saphira wobbled a little before collapsing entirely, her father catching her before she hit the ground. Now we had to deal with another two beings that had a grudge match between them. I was absolutely livid now, looking for an outlet to my fury when I saw Zeref move a few steps closer to us to see how we were doing. He had a look on his face now that was a mix of inner turmoil and uncertainty as he gazed down at the ground. He knew something more and I wasn't about to let it go. Storming over to him and noticing his puzzled expression, I slammed my fist into his nose so hard that there was a cracking sound before blood spurted everywhere. He yelped, tears of pain dripping from eyes that were blurry after what I had done, and I grabbed him by the back of the collar to drag him along as I walked into the forest. I heard a familiar set of wing beats as my partner landed on my shoulder, tapping me on the head in an attempt to get my attention but I wasn't in the right state of mind. After a few more minutes of walking, I found a secluded spot where no one would find us and flung Zeref forward so that he stumbled before hitting the grass. He looked up at me with hurt in his eyes that had nothing to do with the broken nose I had given him, one that was healing up now on its own without any complications.

"Timara, I don't understand what is going on," he whispered, staying on the ground so that I wouldn't find another reason to attack him.

"You and I are going to have a little chat," I told him simply as I sat down in front of him stiffly, glaring fiercely at him to show how serious I was. "I want to know what you've been hiding. I want to know the truth about how you came to have your Magic."

"I haven't told anyone about that," he told me, begging me with his eyes to stop this. "Please, the past is just so painful. Please don't make me speak of it."

"Just now, a being that said it has been sealed within you along with its evil twin for as long as you became the Black Wizard. This being just possessed my daughter and brought her into this mess. You would have to be crazy if you think I'm just going to let this slide, so I suggest you tell me right now before I have to force you to. Trust me, I don't want to hurt you by making you tell me, but I have no other choice. I have to protect my family."

"I thought I was a part of your family, too," he said, voice wavering slightly.

"You are," I told him as my voice lost its harsh edge. "I'm sorry I have to do this, but I also need to protect my daughter."

"Motherly instinct," he said with a decisive nod. "Fine, I will tell you. Just know that my past is not pleasant, nor is the time period I was born in. A lot of horrible things happened in that era and I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of."

"I know that," I whispered calmly. "I can take it. I have no other choice."

Zeref nodded again before telling Ty and me everything I needed to know about the story of how the Black Wizard came to be, starting from his childhood to the day he met Adira, the one he would call the goddess of light who was the only comforting solace he would know for a very long time.


	18. Zeref's Past

**Hello, all! I managed to finish up a chapter within a reasonable amount of time like I'm used to. This chapter is a bit dark since it is all about Zeref and his past before he became The Black Wizard. I thought that it would be the perfect time to explain a few things that were glossed over. I hope you enjoy all of what I came up with in this latest chapter!**

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**Chapter 18: Zeref's Past**

Back when I had just been a little boy, the kingdom of Fiore was divided in two, self-proclaimed kings on either piece. One king was pure evil, having the ability to use Dragon Slayer Magic and killing just for the fun that killing provides on the eastern most half of Fiore. He was tainted by the blood of Dragons and the blood of his people, making him feared beyond measure so that the people he ruled would never revolt for fear of what their ruler might do. The other king, who ruled the western half, wasn't much better, living only to tax his people as much as humanly possible and living in the lap of luxury while gazing down at the hardships of his kingdom as he ruled with an iron fist like his opposition. This king, the one who ruled the west, was my father.

The king of the west was named Rhazien Vexx and he was almost as cruel as the king of the east. He had dark hair and was quite tall, clean shaven for a king and steel gray eyes that could bore holes through to your soul. King Rhazien had snatched the attention of a coldly beautiful woman by the name of Leeta and made her his queen. She had white hair that startled most people because they could say that it was indeed colorless, her black eyes setting off the image to make people believe that she was a demon in disguise. Rhazien loved her coldness, calling it an asset to his country and demanding that she marry him. She refused at first, saying that the only way she would is that if he would swear to one day unite Fiore under his rule so that she could have an empire beneath her. He agreed since he was already arrogant enough to believe that it could be done easily and soon after he had an heir to give the kingdom to one day.

His wish came true a few years after they married and a healthy son was born, that son being me. I was a prince in a sheltered world, believing the best of people and that the human race was inherently good deep down. The servants were surprised to find that Queen Leeta's cold and cruel demeanor slowly melted whenever she was in my presence, enjoying my warmth and curiosity as she taught me the lessons a prince needed to know. However, the more she warmed up to me, the sicker she became. Day by day, the life was slowly leached from her, which is why King Rhazien began to resent and hate me. One day, as my mother was teaching me about Magic and all the things that could be done with it, she imparted a piece of knowledge that surprised me.

"I want you to be very careful with Magic, Zeref," she told me with one of her rare smiles on her face, one that was reserved only for me. "When you become a man, there might come a time where you have an important choice to make. Certain types of Magic are acceptable to learn, but the Black Magic is dangerous. Some come with a price, one that you don't realize until it is already too late. No power that great is worth the price it takes to use it." Even though she spoke with a smile, I wondered why it was that her eyes were glazed over with sadness, a sadness I didn't understand then but would one day soon.

One day, as I was taking a break from my lessons, I happened to overhear from a few servants that our kingdom was about to go to war with our brethren to the east. A noble that had been a good friend of my father had been beheaded, the head left outside the castle gates for a servant to find. I couldn't believe that the stories about the eastern king were true, still naïve about how the world really worked.

A few weeks later and just before the fighting broke out, my mother became very ill. She was forced to stay in bed and I visited her whenever I was allowed. She would always give me a smile and tell me not to worry about her, instead focus on the lessons I was being taught from another until she was better. I didn't know it yet, but my father was becoming more and more jealous and angry at all the attention my mother was paying me. As his sanity began to fray, he devised a plan to get rid of me for good.

On a bright summer's day, King Rhazien collected me from my quarters so we could go just outside the walls on walk. On the way there, I asked him about the upcoming war with eastern Fiore and if he was worried about it. "Of course I'm not worried!" he growled angrily, startling me at first with his tone of voice before he finally calmed it down. "King Acnologia is nothing but a big coward who hides behind the blood he's shed."

"But isn't he a Dragon Slayer?" I asked curiously, gazing up at him with widened eyes. "I heard that they are really strong! I also heard that they're as close to Dragons as humanly possible!"

"Enough, Zeref!" he yelled, glaring down at me with those steely eyes and making me hunch down in fear. "Dragon Slayers are only myths to scare children! I won't allow my son to believe in such nonsense as that!"

"I'm sorry, father," I whispered, looking down at the ground.

After a while, he grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me along behind me, taking me into a forest that was within sight of the castle. I never noticed the dark looks that he cast in my direction, only marveling in the wonder that was the woods itself. I hadn't been in there before and I saw a bunch of different animals frolicking about. I laughed happily as I chased after a few bunnies, succeeding in catching one that was a little too trusting. It allowed me to pick it up and pet it, which had me so absorbed in the joyous feeling that I didn't hear the eerie hiss of a sword sliding from its scabbard. I kept petting the bunny until I finally felt a chill travel down my spine, dropping the rabbit down so that it could run away as I finally turned around towards my father and gasped with fear. My father King Rhazien was standing before me, his arms held up in the air as the point of his bejeweled sword was aimed in the direction of my tiny fluttering heart. I whimpered as I saw the murderous gleam in his eyes, a sick sense of victory emanating from him.

"Go back to Hell where you came from," was all he said before sending his sword down at me.

I screamed and fell backwards to crack my head hard against a rock, closing my eyes and waiting to feel the pain of a blade piercing my tiny body but nothing of the sort came. I knew that I had heard a noise but I didn't know what it was until I had opened my eyes. Standing in front of me with her back to me was my mother and I looked up to see that the sword meant to end my life was now poking through her back. I crawled over to her with my head pounding and looked up at them both, my mother with her deathly cold eyes locked on to my father's surprised and anguished ones.

Even as blood poured down from the wound, my mother remained completely calm and deadly, almost like a feral beast before her prey. "I do hope that you know what you have done, Rhazien," she said, blatantly ignoring his title and making him feel like he was only an inch tall in her eyes. "You tried to kill my son, only to find me in the way to stop you. Now, as I bleed out here, I will lay a curse upon you."

"This can't be…" he said, his eyes gaining a cloudy haunted look. "You act as if this is nothing to you… as if you feel no pain at all! You must be a demon after all!"

"Silence, Rhazien," she told him without once raising her voice, which only terrified my father more. "What I am does not matter. I curse you, King Rhazien Vexx, to lead a life with my son. I hope Zeref reminds you of the sins you have committed today for the rest of your miserable life. If you think that you can just try to kill him yourself a second time, I will come back from the grave as a demon and drag you back to Hell with me where I can torture you for an eternity in the most gruesome ways. Do take care of our son after this."

I watched as Rhazien pulled his blade free and my mother finally looked human as she seemed to fall in slow motion to me. I watched as her colorless hair changed to a beautiful golden hue that matched the crown upon her head. When she hit the ground in front of me, she reached out a wavering hand to touch her fingertips to my cheek, giving me a warm smile that reached her now bright blue green eyes. My own dark eyes became blurry as tears poured down, feeling absolute sorrow for what happened to my mother. I felt tired all of a sudden as I collapsed on my side, the pain in my head getting worse as it tried to drag me down into unconsciousness.

"Mother…" I whispered sadly as my vision darkened.

Just before I passed out, I heard my mother say, "I love you, Zeref, my son. You were always the light of my life from the day you were born, burning through the darkness in my soul. You will be a fine man one day, I'm sure of it." Just before I closed my own eyes, hers dimmed down to a lifeless gray and a huge shadow jumped from her body, looked down at me, and disappeared without a trace.

For the longest time, the concussion I received that day had led to memory loss. I couldn't remember what happened and my father told me that Queen Leeta had snapped, trying to kill both him and me. He stopped her from doing so by killing her first, protecting me in the process. What I couldn't understand is why he acted so cold with me when he could have just let her kill me. I thought that since he was my father, he loved me unconditionally. I didn't realize that he hated me more than even the king from the east, but couldn't do anything about it or risk the wrath of his late wife. What he could do was psychologically torture me enough so that I would kill myself instead, making him free of his curse and guilt free.

Five years after that fateful day and when I was now a young man in line for the throne in a few years, there was a sickness that went around the castle and I had managed to catch it, making it the worst case in our kingdom. I was bedridden for days, coughing up blood and delirious. The servants, who cared for me more than my father did, stayed with me the entire time and took care of me. My father sat back and willed that the sickness would take its course to finally kill me. All the while they did this, I would have fits of headaches that felt like a spike was being pushed through my brain, almost as if it was trying to break through a barrier of sorts. Finally, during the night while I was sleeping I had a dream that was so vivid that I knew it had to be a true memory. I watched as my father tried to kill me but my dear mother stepped in front of him, cursing him for his sins and promising to come back to drag him to hell should he do it again. When I woke up, I had an unholy rage burning through me and I think that is what truly made me get better.

The moment I was completely healed, I decided to get revenge for my mother and looked into Magic. Since I didn't have a specific affinity for any element, I decided to go further and study the Black Arts. I knew that my mother said that certain kinds came with a price, but I wouldn't practice those kinds in her honor. I wondered if the price she referred to was the one that led to the shadow leaving her body when she died. Another year passed by and I was adept at Black Magic, planning soon to use them against my father when the time was right. Little did I know that the meager amount of Black Magic I possessed wouldn't be enough to kill him.

One day before the war he planned on having with King Acnologia, I thought it was time to kill him and snuck into his chambers in the dead of night. I formed a black spear that would poison him once I stabbed him with it and thrust it into his chest while he was sleeping, only to have the whole thing absorbed into his body. I felt him trying to absorb my Magic as well, so I let go of the spear entirely as his eyes snapped open. He grinned at me evilly and sat up, pulling a knife from underneath his pillow and brandishing it in my direction. I was horrified now and confused, not understanding what had just happened.

"I was wondering when this day would come," he said with a laugh. "I guess you really do possess my blood running through your veins. Only one from the Vexx family could be so bold as to kill another."

"I don't understand," I said quietly as I took a step back. "I stabbed you through the chest! You should be dead right now and my mother would be avenged!"

"So that is your motivation? I guess you aren't a Vexx after all. If you were, the slight of me trying to kill you would have been your reason to eliminate me. You are too much like your mother."

"My mother was a good person," I told him, feeling that same burning rage that I had felt before when I had learned that he was the reason why she was dead. "She may have been cold and heartless to everyone else, but she was kind and warm with me. That is all that matters and I would be honored to be like her. Now tell me how you aren't dead right now!"

"I didn't tell anyone this, not even your mother, but I possess a type of Magic that doesn't manifest unless it is absolutely necessary. It is a type of Absorption Magic, one that only activates when my life is in danger. I can't use the Magic I absorb, but it does come in handy when a silent intruder comes to try and steal my life away."

Without another word, he slashed out at me with his dagger and sliced deeply along my chest. Blood spurted out and I yelled, hopping back too slow and touched my fingers to the wound. It wouldn't kill me, but it hurt badly and it would only get worse. Rhazien only laughed now, getting up from his bed with the dagger dripping with my blood. Insults about me flew from his tongue as he lashed out with the dagger, trying to slice me again but I moved away each time. My Magic wasn't enough and I was arrogant enough to believe that it was. Even though it went against everything I believed, I turned tail and ran from the room. I couldn't stay in the castle any longer and bolted outside the walls itself, just in time for the alarm bell to go off that signaled the opposing army had been sighted. I ran into the forest, the one where my mother had been murdered, and ran until my feet were bleeding. I collapsed near a pool of water that gleamed silver in the moonlight, crying heavily and feeling lost for the first time in my entire life. My head hurt as I began to feel lightheaded, the blood loss affecting me more than I had expected. I decided then to just close my eyes and sleep off the miserable thoughts of self-pity.

It was just as dawn was breaking that I heard a harmonious song carrying across the forest, a melody so beautiful and tragic that tears spilled down my cheeks again. I sat up and looked across the pool to see a figure of a woman surrounded with golden light, one that I thought had been caused by the light of the rising sun that filtered in between the trees. I gasped when I realized that the woman was literally made up entirely of the golden light and I watched her as if in a trance as she came closer. I thought that she would give off heat as she stopped a few feet away from me, but she was only warm as she reached out to stroke my cheek with her hand. With that one touch, all of the injuries I had obtained were healed and the blood stopped flowing.

"You have a troubled soul," she said in a lilting voice that was pleasing to hear. "What has happened to you to make you so anguished?" I felt like I could trust her and so I told her my story, starting from when Rhazien tried to kill me but only succeeded in killing my mother to the events that had unfolded that night. The entire time I spoke, she listened without saying a word, just absorbing the information I gave her with a sad look on her face. Finally, after waiting for me to finish before speaking, she said, "I apologize, young one, for all that has happened to you. Even though you tried to kill your father, I don't find you to be inherently evil like him. You have a pure soul."

"I don't know what to do now," I told her softly. "He killed my mother and tried to kill me. He needs to be punished for the sins staining his soul so heavily. The only way to do that is to gain more power because he is physically stronger than me, but his Magic will just absorb mine if I use it against him."

The golden being was silent for a few seconds before saying, "I can grant you the power required for you to do this. I think you have the right kind of soul to take it."

"You would do this for me?" I asked, feeling hope for the first time in a while.

"However, this Magic comes with a price," she said gravely as she looked down upon me. "Your mother understood the risks when she took the deal for more power. I think you know to weigh the consequences."

"My… mother made the deal?" I felt cold now at her words, almost as if a chill had seeped down to my bones.

"She made a similar deal with my sister," the golden being said. "This deal involved your mother allowing my sister to possess her, to enter her mind and remain dormant until such a time as she needed to take over. She told your mother that she wasn't allowed to use emotion of any kind, not even to feel love, or it would slowly kill her. That is why your mother fell ill for so long. She loved you very much and risked her life to keep doing so."

"Is that the deal I have to make?" I asked her, feeling an edge of sadness at what my mother had done.

"No, yours is a bit different," she said. "I think you are the only one who can handle such a deal. It involves sealing both my sister and me within your mind but allows you to access our powers whenever you please. It will make you infinitely stronger and you will be immortal, which means you will keep living on so long as you keep us sealed. Your father will not be able to absorb your Magic no matter how hard he tries for our Magic is older than any other, so ancient that it existed before The One Magic came to be."

"Is there a price I should know about?"

"While you know the value of a life, the ability to use this Magic disappears. When you forget the value of a life, you have full mastery over it."

I felt a shiver travel down my spine as I thought over this, but I already knew my decision. "I will accept this Magic that you offer."

The being of golden light nodded before walking to the side to draw a strange form of a pentagram in the earth with her toes. She moved back to her previous place, beckoning for me to stand and waited for me to do so before speaking. "I, Adira, the Goddess of Life itself, call upon the powers I wield to bring forth my opposite, the other side of the same coin. I ask that you are summoned before me, Deysis, the Goddess of Death."

The ground rumbled a little before a black smoke welled up from the pentagram as the being of golden light, who called herself Adira, drew another pentagram where she was standing. The black smoke wavered before a dark fire erupted upwards, one that wasn't hot but rather cold as death itself. I wanted to shrink back but I stayed in place as I watched the fire calm down some. They formed the shape of another woman, looking exactly like Adira's twin except for the obvious differences. This woman had cold lifeless eyes, ones that could see down into your soul and looked like dark pits to Hell. She grinned at me, revealing bright white fangs that moved like fire like the rest of her body.

"You always had a flair for the dramatics, Deysis," Adira said calmly as she gazed at the trapped being standing within the confines of the pentagram.

"If you are going to lock me up like this, I might as well have some fun with it," Deysis said, turning her eyes in Adira's direction. "How good it is to see you again, sister. What is the purpose behind summoning me here?"

"I have found a vessel for us both to reside in so that we no longer meddle with the world of the living."

Again, Deysis' eyes shifted back to mine as she assessed my worth. "You, boy, are the son of former Queen Leeta Vexx, are you not?"

"Yes, that is correct," I told her with a nod, feeling a bit apprehensive now at this situation.

"I can see the fire burning within you. You wish to kill your father for murdering your mother. I approve of your motive and I will give you my power willingly."

"Now that this is all settled," Adira said quietly, "I think it is time we finish this. I have faith in you, Prince Zeref Vexx."

Both Adira and Deysis began to chant something in a language I didn't understand, which surprised me since I had learned many different ones during my lessons with my mother. Before long, there was a blue glow surrounding Adira and a red one around Deysis. It became brighter until they turned into balls of light that flew into me, making a hot and cold feeling burn into my mind as I gritted my teeth against the pain. They moved around until they were finally settled, making me gasp as all of a sudden the pain was gone.

**_Good luck, Zeref,_** a kind voice said in my mind as it gave off a comforting warmth.

For a year after Adira and Deysis were sealed in my mind, I practiced using Death Magic. Before long, the value of a life that I had known in the beginning was gone, leaving only a chilling hole in my heart as I travelled from village to village to destroy everyone in my path. I had been gone from the castle that had been my home for so long and now I was ready to confront the monster that was my father. I heard word that he was currently locked in battle in a field that was on the border of both kingdoms, trying to fight off the advancing army that belonged to King Acnologia. I wanted to watch as I destroyed everything that my father ever cared about and so I made my way to the camp of the eastern king.

**_Is this really such a good idea?_** Adira's voice asked in my mind, the first time she had spoken since being sealed away.

_I want to make him pay and this is how I can utterly destroy him_, I told her in my mind as I passed through the tents of the camp, the soldiers here glaring angrily at me but allowing me through.

**_It's not like they will harm him,_** the voice of Deysis filtered its way through to catch my attention. **_They know his reputation. Besides, King Acnologia has been searching for him since he had first heard about The Black Wizard._**

When I made it to the tent of the king, he was waiting for me outside. He was tall and muscled heavily, a look of pure evil in his eyes as he assessed me and my stature. I glared up at him with now red eyes to show that I had no fear of him, no matter what rumors I had heard about the Dragon King. Finally, the king cracked a smile and beckoned for me to follow him inside. We talked after a while about amiable things, which I thought was quite twisted given that I had a different purpose at being here. Finally, I told him my plan.

"I have heard that you want more power, enough so that you can defeat King Rhazien," I told him, locking my eyes on him.

"You heard right," King Acnologia said with a grin, showing off his elongated canines that I now associated with the entire Dragon Slayer race. His dark hair fell over onto his eyes and yet those sky blue eyes shone with an otherworldly light. "That was why I had a few soldiers of mine search for you so diligently. I have heard about the demons you have created so far, more specifically Lullaby and Deliora. Such great accomplishments, I must add."

"So, what is it that you want me to do?" I asked as I leaned back in my chair.

"I want you to make me into a demon as well," King Acnologia said as he leaned forward, his eyes shining even brighter. "I want to use that power to destroy his army and unite Fiore under my rule."

"How about I do something even better for you?" I asked as I closed my eyes, seeming almost bored of the conversation. "How about I turn you into the most powerful Dragon alive?"

We both remained silent for the longest time before he said, "If you are lying to me, I will have your head on a spear within a minute."

"I would not jest about something like this," I told him, refraining from telling him that I am immortal and that he wouldn't be able to kill me. "I can make you into a Dragon, but on one condition."

"And what is this condition you speak of?"

"You leave King Rhazien for me to kill. I have unfinished business with him."

"I wasn't sure until now, but you are King Rhazien's son, Prince Zeref," he said with a grin.

"Don't try to hold me hostage as a bargaining chip," I told him simply. "My father hates my guts and tried to have me killed as a boy. You would only be doing him a favor. Now, about the deal?"

"I accept," he said. "Turn me into a Dragon right this minute and you will have my word that your father will be yours to kill."

I nodded and used the Life Magic that belonged to Adira, who I could feel was disapproving of the whole situation. A huge light surrounded the king and it only got bigger, stretching higher and higher until it tore through the tent. Before long, I could see the light fading as a loud roar echoed throughout the land, a huge black Dragon stood before me as it jumped into the air. Screams of terror could be heard and I left the tent completely, heading over to the other camp to find my father. It didn't take long before I could find his tent specifically since everyone else had moved to fight the Dragon attacking the camp. There he was, waiting for me while sitting in a chair that was reminiscent of the throne back at the castle. He stared down at me, looking tired and exhausted after having to fight for a year with an opposing king. He didn't once look surprised to see me as I came closer.

"Prince Zeref Vexx," he said quietly, his eyes just as steely as I remember them. "It has been a long time since we last saw each other."

"And whose fault would that be, oh mighty king of western Fiore?" I asked, sarcasm dripping from each of my words. "I have dreamt of this day for the entire year I was gone."

"I have as well," the king said with a sigh. "I knew the demon spawn would appear again in the night to take my life."

"Is that all I am to you, _father?_" I asked, spitting out the last word as if it was poison in my mouth.

"I loved your mother for her coldness, for the way she was the human equivalent for a demon. It was good to know that I could have her power at my beck and call whenever I needed it to instill fear on my kingdom," he told me, barely even looking at me once. "Then you were born and everything changed. You were always the bane of my existence, but I didn't know how much until you suddenly began to change my wife into more of a human. Only a real demon can do something like this, to change something I cared about so thoroughly into a different person. I knew right then that I needed to kill you before it became worse, but your mother stopped me. Then she laid a curse upon me, one that has been slowly ripping my strength away from me since I haven't fulfilled my entire bargain about making sure nothing happened to you. She is coming to get me from beyond the grave by using you as her favorite weapon of choice."

"It is what you deserve after what you have done to us," I told him. With my palm outstretched and facing upwards, a huge sphere of Death Magic appeared there and I saw Rhazien look surprised, almost fearful of me for the first time in his dark life. "What was it that you said to me six years ago when you tried to kill me? That's right, I remember now. Your exact words were 'go back to Hell where you came from.' Seems fitting, since that is exactly where you will be going yourself."

The sphere moved faster than Rhazien could dodge, burrowing a perfect hole through his chest where his blackened heart would be. He gasped a little before collapsing to the ground, looking up at me as he shook and I could see my red eyes reflected back in his steely gray ones. With one last shudder of breath that ended his life, the great King Rhazien Vexx died on the cold ground he fought so hard to keep. I was now the rightful king of the western land of Fiore, so I allowed the Dragon King to take the other half of Fiore for his own and walked away from the scene of the patricide. A few legends were spread about King Zeref Vexx of western Fiore and I could only shake my head when I heard them. Only one story was true of me and that was I am The Black Wizard.

Almost two hundred years later while Fiore was united, I had been wandering around and watching the demons I created run amok to destroy everything they pleased. One of major towns housed a few rebel forces that would meet up in the courthouse where the mayor lived and I happened to arrive there in time for another meeting. With Deysis calling for me to kill them, I approached the window and was about to send my Death Magic out in the air and kill them all when I caught sight of a woman that was in her early twenties.

The hollow feeling deep in my heart, the one that made me think that my heart had stopped beating years ago, began to leave as a deep ache spread throughout my body. I felt my heart flutter painfully like the wings of a hummingbird and I was frightened about what this meant as I gazed into the window again to look at her. She had long chestnut brown hair that was wavy as it hung down her back, lightly tanned skin that looked sun kissed, and eyes that were the color of amethyst. Such bright purple eyes were a shock to me as I hunched down behind the window a second time, my heart beating even faster than before. I shivered a bit and then moved away from the window, hearing the screams of Deysis ringing in my ears as she cursed me for being weak.

A few days later and I had the chance to meet the girl I had seen at the mayor's home. After eavesdropping on a few people in the town, I learned that she was the daughter of the mayor and loved by everyone wherever she went. I was walking down the street and was turning down a side street when I ran into someone. I heard a yelp as the other person fell to the ground and I offered a hand to them when I saw that it was her. It was the girl that I had seen and my heart started beating hard against my ribs.

"I'm so sorry," I told her as she shook her head and then looked up at me with those violet eyes of her. "I wasn't looking where I was going. I didn't mean to knock you down."

She gave me a brilliant smile, one that most likely had me blushing for the first time, before she said, "It's not your fault! I am already quite clumsy. I wasn't looking where I was going either." She took my hand and I felt a rush of happiness at her touch as she pulled herself to her feet. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Cassiana, but most people just call me Cassie. What's your name?"

"My name is Zeref," I told her simply, worrying a little that she might realize who I am.

"That's a unique name!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together excitedly. "Why don't you come home with me for dinner and you can explain where you're from! Such a worthy name must have a story behind it!"

She grabbed me by the hand and dragged me behind her at a run. My first meeting with Cassiana and I had already learned how bright and sunny a disposition she had, which was completely new to me. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, all of which I spent with her. She became the one and only friend I had ever had and it took me a little while to realize when my feelings for her developed into something stronger. I fell in love with this sunny girl, the one who always kept me on my toes and I told all of my secrets to. I even told her about my past, about how I was now over two hundred years old and in possession of Death Magic, and she accepted me completely. She told me that she loved me one day and I felt like the world was just as bright and good as I had once thought it was a young boy.

One day in the spring, she showed me that she also had Magic of her own. She had mastery over Plant Magic and used it to help out the crops that the farmers grew just outside of town. She showed me how delicate life could be but with just the right nudge would bloom into something beautiful. Cassie was the entire reason why I had begun to see the value of a life and how my eyes had returned back to their normal black color. I was the entire reason why she died on that one fateful summer's day.

I had forgotten about what Adira had told me so many years ago about the deal, about the price of the Magic I wielded. I hadn't thought about it for so long that the whole situation shocked me. Cassie and I were out for a stroll and I had planned to ask her to be my wife that day when I felt something dark stir within me. There was a sinister laugh in my mind that pushed the edges of my consciousness and I knew that this was Deysis trying to revolt. I felt Adira try to fight her, but there was nothing that could be done. Pain radiated through me and I had to hunch over to stop myself from screaming while Cassie placed a hand on my back comfortingly. I could feel how worried she was but that was the last thing I remember about her before the Death Magic erupted from me in a huge blast wave, crushing the life out of everything within a mile radius. Horrified, I looked over at Cassie while she gave me a sad loving smile just before her body turned to ashes that blew away on the breeze. I screamed in agony, the loss of my bright girl killing me inside more than any emotional torture that my father could concoct.

After that moment, I moved to Tenrou Island and refused to speak with anyone until that important day I met Timara another two hundred years later. She soon became the light in my life again to lead me out of the darkness, to help ease the pain I still felt over Cassie's death. She was one of the most significant people in my life and I didn't want for her to die by my hands, which is why I was so amazed that my Magic couldn't kill her. From a sweet little girl to a beautiful stubborn woman, she was always my best friend and would remain that way for as long as time itself, no matter what will happen in the future.

As I finished my story, she looked back at me in surprise, looking so much like Cassie that the pain welled up from my soul again. "So now you know my story," I told her quietly, hoping she would understand. "Now you also know why I don't like getting too close with people. After what my father did and after I killed Cassiana, I have a hard time letting people in. So what will you do with this knowledge that I have given you?"


End file.
